Chapter 416

— Because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love..

Boom—!

Finally. Finally, I could use special magic.

In an instant, the air turned completely green and surged toward a single point. Wettin, who had been about to turn his sword back into a staff, abandoned the idea. The moment he caught the blade with one hand and swung it sideways to block, the temporary barrier woven through his sword collapsed with a deafening blast.

Boom—! Craaash!

Sliding backward, Wettin flicked his sword through the air, transformed it back into a staff, and spat out the blood pooling in his mouth. A barrier shouldn’t have shattered that easily. Doubt—and excitement—lit up his gleaming eyes. Smiling, I asked, “Are you afraid of my attack, Senior?”

“Hahaha…”

What I’d just used resembled the suppression spell Wettin had been using all along. While my mana lingered in the air, it suppressed the mana of anyone caught inside it. Naturally, the barrier he had deployed had no choice but to collapse.

I deliberately avoided any spells that divine power would make easier to cast. Too many people were watching this duel. Wrapping my staff in mana that flowed like a river, I spoke.

— I have come to bring fire on the earth–

— And how I wish it were already kindled.

Wettin cut off my incantation and launched himself forward. I had no reason to cling to a broken spell. The ruined formula vanished from my thoughts as soon as it collapsed, and my mouth was already forming the next one. I raised a hand toward the sky.

— Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this–

Craaash—!!

Green mana poured down from the sky. Without even looking up, Wettin perfectly avoided the point where it would land and slammed his staff into the ground.

“Well, now. But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says—’”

— He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun.

It looked like Wettin had finally given up on making the fight dull with neutralization formulas alone. His opening spell and my final verse completed at the same time. Green light, bright enough to rival hundreds of lamps, rushed toward him. Through the flood of light, I could still see his jet-black staff cutting through the air. Then Mecklenburg’s voice, wrapped in Wettin’s bizarre tone, came thundering toward me.

— God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.

Boom.

A thunderous crash slammed into my ears. The pounding was so heavy it felt as though my eyes and heart were swelling under the pressure. The tip of the slender, branch-like staff came straight at me, moving so much like a sword that it was almost impossible to tell the difference. Wettin still hadn’t let go of his obsession with the sword.

I clicked my tongue at that harpoon-like weapon. The smell of blood and the lingering effects of his chants seeped through my body, dulling my senses, but my lips still moved. — For the LORD your God goes with you—

Craaash!

He will never leave you nor forsake you. The green mana, which to me felt somewhat foreign, shoved Wettin’s staff high above the arc it should have followed. I landed just as his murderous voice echoed from somewhere in the distance.

— Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you?

My eyes were starting to sting. Right as the thought crossed my mind, something hot trickled from my nose. Before anything else, my senses caught the mana. Ash-colored mana poured down from overhead. A shout I couldn’t tell was fury or exhilaration came with the sound of him kicking off the ground.

— Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?

That chant must have summoned a mist. I’d learned through experience that once the barrier went up, there was no stopping it from shattering into countless fragments. Even now, tens of thousands of glass-like shards were raining down under gravity. Is not your wickedness great… I raised my staff.

— Hypocrites.

Boom!

— You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?

As I brought my staff down, a raging gale swept the dust away, coating the countless attacks with my mana. The mass of green particles split into seven streams, and the moment I overlaid a homing spell onto them, they began chasing the mana inside Wettin’s body. Just as Wettin opened his mouth in Mecklenburg’s voice, the scent of blood suddenly grew much stronger.

— You will pray to him, and he will hear you.

KRAAAASH—!

— And you will fulfill your vows.

As expected, Nepomucena Wettin wasn’t just skilled in swordsmanship alone. The mana from my attack froze in place before him, then suddenly bent away, crashing into the ground with a deafening roar.

KRRRRAACK—!!

A heartbeat later, it burst back up beneath where I was standing.

Bang—

The moment I used the barrier as a stepping stone to vault into midair, I saw the mana erupting from below collide with the earlier attack and erase itself completely. A delayed trigger. The two streams of mana devoured each other, so the attack he’d batted back at me like a ping-pong ball naturally vanished. Which meant that had only been a feint. Of course it was.

Below me, Wettin’s staff swept from right to left through the air. A laugh laced with exhilaration reached my ears.

“Got you.”

Mana, as erratic and vicious as Wettin himself, came tearing toward my abdomen. The corners of my lips twitched, and a chill ran down my spine. If that reached my core, I’d collapse. Worse, my traits would try to consume his mana. I already knew that. Even so, my mouth went dry. The few moments before my feet touched the ground stretched into an eternity.

‘Got me?’

Who exactly was getting caught? I rolled my tongue against the roof of my mouth twice.

— Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right?

BOOOOM—!!

The mana rushing toward me veered off course. Landing with both feet, I flooded the ground beneath me with green waves of mana before bringing my staff down toward the remnants of Wettin’s mana still hanging in the air. Since it was made from his own mana, it wouldn’t injure him. But it was more than enough to throw off his senses. The second verse after ‘Hypocrites.’ It wasn’t another spell…

The best part was that I could continue the flow from before without interruption.

Bang—

Smashing his staff down, Wettin nullified his own attack and spat out another mouthful of blood. His knees buckled. He’d already drained a tremendous amount of mana suppressing my special magic. And that trick from earlier—baiting me into making a mistake to exploit a split-second opening—that had probably been his last card.

‘He’s still standing?’

Impressive, honestly. If he could keep going, there wasn’t much I could do about it. Before the thought had even finished crossing my mind, his incantation cut through the air.

— What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways!

Whoosh—! KRAAASH—! BOOM!

A storm of light I hadn’t conjured swept across the arena. I barely managed to knock it aside with the ornamented end of my staff and curled one corner of my mouth. Even without moving from where he stood, Wettin was blanketing the entire arena with attacks. Twirling my staff in a figure eight, I started walking toward him.

— But he knows the way that I take–

“You really are fond of special magic, junior. …When people are brought low and you say, lift them up.”

— When he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

— Then he will save the downcast!

Wettin’s dark mana surged into the sky. His lips moved again. No sound came out—but then, neither did mine.

KRAAAASH—!

He does whatever he pleases. The thunder of colliding mana scattered across the sky. I finally released the last words I’d kept behind my lips.

— He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store. That is why I am terrified before him.

His uniform had long since been soaked with blood. He was forcing out far too much mana. Even so, the fire in his eyes hadn’t dimmed, and that strange grin was still there. Leaning on my staff, I watched Wettin, who no longer had the strength to move freely, then drove the staff into the ground.

— People assault the flinty rock with their hands and lay bare the roots of the mountains. They tunnel through the rock; their eyes see all its treasures. They search the sources of the rivers and bring hidden things to light.

“Cough…”

— But where can wisdom be found? Where does understanding dwell?

Wettin, still wearing Mecklenburg’s face, did nothing but glare at me with his staff in hand. He no longer had the strength to move—not even enough to turn his head and spit out the blood filling his mouth.

Of course, Wettin wasn’t my only audience. From Adrian Askanien, who had come because of the succession dispute, to the countless mages rabid with interest in our succession—whether driven by political or economic reasons—the stands were packed.

Judging by how Wettin recognized the spells I frequently used, he must have watched my Pentathlon matches closely. Even if everyone here had already gotten a good look at my abilities, there was no reason to reveal techniques I didn’t need to use. Simply increasing the density of mana in the air was enough. I continued chanting as I let my mana spread.

— No mortal comprehends its worth; it cannot be found in the land of the living.

— …Do not fret because of those who are evil…

— The deep says, “It is not in me”; the sea says, “It is not with me.”

— …Or be envious of those who do wrong…

— Where then does wisdom come from? Where does understanding dwell?

— …For like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away!

Clang!

I deflected what had to be his final carefully prepared strike and kept walking toward him. Unlike the surging mana, Nepomucena Wettin himself hadn’t moved an inch. He remained leaning against his staff exactly as before. His breathing, carried through the speakers, was growing faster by the second. Mine was much slower. I opened my mouth.

— It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing, concealed even from the birds in the sky. Destruction and Death say, “Only a rumor of it has reached our ears.” God understands the way to it and he alone knows where it dwells–

KRAAAASH!

— For he views the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters, when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the thunderstorm,

Boom!

Before I could finish the incantation, his heavy body hit the ground. He tried to push himself back up, but his elbows were already shaking too badly.

Remembering how Mecklenburg manipulated water, I spread my mana like liquid and pressed it down over his body. If I could’ve used divine power, I would’ve, but that wasn’t an option right now. I dropped to one knee beside him, planted a hand firmly against his back where his heart should be, and began reciting a spell that would keep him pinned without causing any further harm.

— This is love: not that we loved God.

[10, 9, 8…]

— But that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

[…4, 3.]

“Ghk… cough…”

Blood spilled from Wettin’s mouth every time he exhaled. Mine wasn’t much different. The dried blood around my lips made it hard to move my mouth. My ears rang, and a thick clot clung to the back of my throat.

— Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

I drew each breath slowly and steadily, almost like I was meditating, and kept reciting the spell. I couldn’t afford to think about anything else. I had to focus entirely on maintaining the magic.

[5.]

— We love because he first loved us.

Then, all at once, Wettin’s eyes closed and his head lolled to the side. The next instant, his eyes snapped back open.

“…!”

The moment I put force into the hand gripping the staff to reinforce the mana shrouding his body, Wettin’s form vanished from right before my eyes. The green mana blanketing his body scattered into the air, and the sight alone was enough to catch me off guard.

A dozen possibilities flashed through my mind. Did he escape? No. Impossible. Vanishing without a trace like this meant one only thing: the physical strain on his body had exceeded the safety limit, causing the Mimesis to forcibly eject Wettin. I looked up just as the notification sounded.

Beeeeep—

[7 minutes, 32 seconds. Match concluded. Lukas Askanien wins.]

Being ejected from the Mimesis didn’t mean he was weak. If anything, it meant the exact opposite.

Most people would accept defeat and go down when they hit a pain level of a hundred. Wettin, on the other hand, wanted to keep fighting even after reaching a hundred and fifty—pain intense enough that almost no one could endure it.

He’d tried to keep going until the very end, eyes wide open, but the Mimesis had forcibly ejected him. Which meant the amount of pain he was experiencing had exceeded the Imperial Mage Association’s safety limit by a wide margin.

‘…Now I see why his evaluations are so terrible.’

What exactly was he fighting that hard for? I knew there were all kinds of people out there, but personally… if I ever had to spar someone again, I’d rather it not be this guy. Anyone else would’ve called it quits the moment they’d coughed up half a bucket of blood.

‘Seriously… how did he stay conscious after bleeding that much from his face?’

His mana circulation had to be on another level. If he donated a core sample to the Bavarian Hospital, it’d probably be a huge contribution to medical science.

Once the evaluation ended, I didn’t return to my seat. Instead, I headed straight for the infirmary near the east entrance on the first floor of the arena. It was only polite to check in on him. And…

It seemed like a good opportunity to introduce myself to one of Adrian Askanien’s classmates—one of the few who didn’t seem particularly fond of him.

Creak—

“Senior.”

“Hm?”

Wettin, who had been sitting on the edge of a bed drinking a potion, frowned when he saw me. He set the bottle down with a clink, raised an eyebrow, and said, “What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean? It’s not like I did anything wrong.”

“Well, that’s true.”

Then what exactly was your point…? I wondered if I needed to switch my brain off around this senior the same way I did around Elias before taking the empty chair in front of him. Just then, a medic I hadn’t seen before approached me.

“Lord Askanien. You must receive treatment.”

“I’m fine.”

The medic studied my nose for a moment, looking unconvinced, then walked away. Other injuries aside, the aftereffects of overusing my mana unfortunately didn’t disappear after getting out of the Mimesis. Still, a few nosebleeds were nothing. Like Nepomucena Wettin, I’d recover after downing a few bottles of potions.

I sat down without a word and looked over at Nepomucena Wettin. He raised an eyebrow at me before dropping back onto the bed with a thud.

“So, you’re close with Mecklenburg?”

“Not particularly.”

“Your fighting style says otherwise, Junior.”

So he bought it. At least this one did. Good. Looks like all those hours buried in the Extra Chapter—and my acting—hadn’t gone to waste. I smiled.

“Why do you think that? Strange.”

“Forget it. I’m not close with him either. Ah~ I should be watching that bastard eating dirt right now. Instead I’m stuck here…”

He really didn’t seem close to him. More accurately, Nepomucena Wettin was the sort who’d casually tease someone while insisting they weren’t friends, whereas Mecklenburg was exactly the type who’d hate every second of it and refuse to play along. That was just how the guy was.

“And I’m not close with your brother either.”

“So you don’t like me either?”

“…….”

The corner of Wettin’s mouth curled upward as he sat up.

“What if I don’t?”

“That would be disappointing.”

“Ah, see? If you answer like that, it’s no fun.”

No fun? More importantly, he clearly had something he wanted to say. I’d had that feeling ever since he started bringing up who he was and wasn’t close to for no reason. What exactly was he after? I simply smiled without answering. No matter what expression I wore, Wettin ignored it and continued.

“I enjoy catching people off guard more than making them happy.”

“Then I’ll do my best to look surprised. Is there something you wish to say to me?”

“You think I’d bring this up if I didn’t?”

Wettin grinned mischievously.

“How’d you feel about training with me from now on? I’ve been watching you for over a month, and I rather like your style.”