RATH 81
TL: Eevee
10. We came, we saw, we won (6)
#12 Their story: Ria el Nermia’s story.
I actually was worried about the threat of Yugrasia.
But the perpetual third place, and if you excluded Mercaria which had no fighting power to speak of, Yugrasia was in all honesty dead last among the combat-orientated schools, and their reputation was worse than I had ever imagined.
I did my hardest to explain the threat of Yugrasia to the student council and told them to prepare against them, but if you took it positively I was simply thorough, or in other words, an annoying first year, whose words fell on deaf ears.
And the result of that, was Yugrasia sweeping through every single one of the imperial festival’s events right from Day 1.
“But still, that they’d bring out the empire’s youngest ever swordsmaster in the imperial festival…”
The being called a swordsmaster was just a single person, but you could never treat one as just that.
They were monsters that could destroy your average brigade all by themselves.
Unlike magicians or battlemages, whose fighting abilities dropped noticeably when they ran out of mana, swordsmasters could keep on moving even if they ran out of mana, as long as they had a sword in their hands. They were the symbol of victory for an ally, and fear for enemies.
And that being was our enemy.
“If it’s the Letia House’s Lady Aris… Since she’s 17 now, that’s almost an entire year faster than the Areista House’s Sword Princess.”
The Four Great Academies of the empire were open to anyone under the age of 20.
They were famous schools, and since there were also many rejected applicants, people even made multiple attempts to attend one of them.
Even so, the majority of nobles enrolled at age 16, 17, and it wasn’t like there weren’t people like me who enrolled early at 15 years of age.
Even if one was younger, if you had the talent to be accepted, then you had the right to attend, that was the kind of place the Four Great Academies were.
But still, even so.
With a single exception, Archduke Heblaein Run Zearr from the Sword Academy, Arucia, never had a swordmaster emerged among any student still studying at the academies.
And even that Archduke Zearr achieved that peak at the age of 23, as a fourth year on the verge of graduation.
A first year student, a teenager at that, becoming a swordsmaster is unprecedented in the history of the entire continent.
The only similar case, was the former youngest swordsmaster, the Sword Princess.
But even the Sword Princess did not create that result with the status of a student, but as the Imperial Princess’s personal bodyguard, while receiving all sorts of benefits.
How was it that a student, and from the summoner’s school of all things, ended up becoming a swordsmaster?
And a god-class summoner at that?
I have to fight three more, no four more years against a swordsmaster?
“This is actually…”
-Are you having fun, owner?
“Of course.”
To be honest, I was far, far too disappointed.
No matter that I had come to the academy to avoid Mother’s pressure on me to get married, but I had high expectations for the four schools called the pillars of the empire, or the empire’s future.
But the reality was, a pathetic level of education that couldn’t even compare to the empire’s enemy that was an evil organization.
When I looked at the children of nobility creating and scrapping over political factions instead of actually learning anything, I started to seriously wonder just why Howling couldn’t beat the empire.
Although of course those worries vanished instantly when I thought of the instructor’s disciples.
And so as I lived day after day in disappointment without any stimulation, people who could excite me finally appeared, how could I not be happy about that!
-Owner, I’m asking you seriously but are you a pervert? You’re enjoying suffering hardship?
“They say that you can’t move forward without trials and tribulations, didn’t the instructor tell us that?”
-So. When owner had the trial and tribulation called the bat, did you move forward?
“Sometimes you have to retreat backwards in order to advance forwards!”
-Though you wouldn’t be saying that if you didn’t use me as a sacrifice for said retreat!
How noisy. Sometimes a small sacrifice is needed for the greater good.
He was simply the throwaw- I mean, emotional sacrifice to help his allies retreat.
Although, I was actually kind of sorry for doing that to him as well.
Because the thing called the bat, was that sort of thing.
“Yes, it was the bat. I grew up while getting hit by the bat. Even if the enemy is a swordsmaster, the fear of death we experienced is different!”
But, the next day.
A completely different turn of events unfolded compared to what I had expected.
“Kaaaahhhhhhgh! Did you think! This was all it would take to stop me!”
“Kahahahahaha! Was this all that Marcis’ greatest genius had to offer!”
“Wha, what the?”
I couldn’t help but show a shocked expression, unlike my normal self.
The plan was, that over the week-long period of the imperial festival, I would start making an appearance in the events from Day 3 onwards.
Even if we had healers, they couldn’t alleviate the mental stress.
For the first two days where each event was only worth 1 point, Marcis would use them mostly to scout out the enemy, and save my strength for future matches.
But on Day 1, we lost so overwhelmingly, I had to start participating a full day earlier than we expected, and that event was Capture the Flag.
Six people made up a single group to knock over the enemy’s flag.
Out of the six events on Day 2, this was the only event worth 2 points.
To earn those 2 points I also participated, and we destroyed teams from Mercaria and Arucia.
And in the quarterfinals I ended up meeting a team from Yugrasia for the first time.
But the opponents were all common no-names.
And as you’d expect from non-famous students, all they did was summon their summoned beasts and charge in, and I easily knocked them down.
Afterwards I froze their hands and feet with ice magic, and just as I reached my hand out to grab their flag!
There was a boom! accompanied by a dreadful cackling.
And as I saw the gleams in the eyes of the two people who had somehow managed to latch onto my ankles, a frigid shiver ran down my spine.
“They, they attacked their own hands and feet?!”
I heard it was a common thing on the battlefield.
When all the healers were dead, people that were bleeding out cauterized their own wounds with fire magic.
Or when their bodies were imprisoned with ice magic, they would burn their own bodies with fire magic.
But that was a battlefield with lives on the line.
Losing a part of your body or some pain was a worthwhile trade for your life.
But, this was the imperial festival.
Even if each respective academy’s futures and profits were on the line, a student sacrificing a body part to escape was simply unfathomable.
“Wait no, why isn’t the return magic responding? If it’s that much damage that should be way more than enough for them to be called back?!”
The magic tool, that once the wearer suffered a certain degree of pain or danger, would automatically teleport them to the healing tents!
If you blew up your own hand, then surely that would be enough pain to teleport you to the healers?
“Fufufu, no matter how much of a genius you are, as I thought, you’re still a brat.”
“Did you think that we, the students of Yugrasia, that fought against the silver devil! Would withdraw with just this tiny bit of pain!”
“Pain? Did something hurt? I thought a mosquito bit my arm?”
“Same here. The mosquitoes are making my arm itch.”
“They’re insane…”
It was an explosion big enough to tear off parts of their uniform, which had exceptionally good defense enchantments on them.
Their arms were burnt enough that if you listened carefully, you could still hear the sizzling of burnt flesh.
If there was someone in that state who could say that it was but a mosquito bite, you could not call them normal by any means.
They’re mad. These humans are all well and thoroughly insane.
“We actually went and lost yesterday.”
“If we lose today as well, all we have left is to face off against the devil.”
“I’d rather sell my soul to another devil and win instead, I can’t fight against the silver devil!”
“Uuuhg?”
As I looked at those desperate shouts and deranged eyes.
I felt that emotion for the first time since I left the organization.
‘S, scary…’
The emotion named fear!
‘I need to dodge!’
The enemy is not strong.
They are definitely weaker than I am.
But I never thought, even once, that I could beat them.
This was a human’s instinct.
Far beyond logic and emotion, pure, simple instinct was screaming at me to get away from here as far as possible.
As my instincts decreed, I made haste to backstep as quickly as I could, but the two people that each had their hands on my ankles seemed to be having none of it.
“Where… do you think… you’re going.”
“You need to fall here for us.”
My ankles were gripped so tightly it actually hurt.
This was the first time I’d seen someone this tenacious since No.1000’s desire to eat.
“Hiik! I, I’ll just be on my way…”
“Heheheh! So it’s finally our turn to use this line!”
“Although it was always bullshit whenever Professor Nicerwin said it, but this situation actually reminds me of it!”
“Ugh? You’re actually freezing your hands to my ankles?!”
Their magics activated as they said some weird things.
The cold air that emanated from their hands bound my ankles and their arms together with ice.
“”You can come in whenever you want, but not when you leave!””
With those words, the two people’s arms and my ankles became linked.
“Kill them, Surtr!”
Killing was strictly prohibited in the imperial festival.
But right now, I might as well have lost half my reasoning.
“Calm down, owner. Even if they were to bind owner, they froze their own arms in the process! They froze a part of their own bodies as well, of course they would have made it weak! If it’s my fire… it, it’s not melting?”
Due to our unequal contract, Surtr couldn’t harm me, his master, and so he tried to use his flames to melt the ice around my ankles, but the ice didn’t melt.
“Freeze, freeze, and freeze ever more!”
“Even if my hands may fracture and shatter, may the ice melt never again!”
“These crazy motherfuckers?!”
“Just kill them all already!”
It’s cold. I’m losing sensation in my legs from my ankles downwards.
But if it were these situations, I’d experienced these a number of times with the instructor’s training from hell.
But, the only other time where I’d felt this degree of fanaticism was when Sia, my sunbae in the organization, talked about the instructor.
‘In, incredible, instructor!”
How did the instructor, no, Sir Instructor manage to endure this degree of fanatic attachment?
As opposed to my respect for the instructor which was climbing ever higher, I was losing more and more feeling in my ankles.
“I don’t know! I seriously don’t know!”
At this point I’d much rather take some giant attack and get teleported back to the healers, but I did not want to spend a moment longer in the company of these people who were grinning like madmen while attached to my ankles.
“Burn, burn, burn and burn again!”
They are weak. But, they are more fearsome than any other.
If I didn’t kill them first, they could kill me!
So I had to kill them first.
“Burn, burn even more! Burn everything!”
“Owner, it’s too dangerous!”
I closed my eyes, and what I brought up in my mind’s eye was the giant’s sword that burned down an entire world.
“And so, burn, burn, burn, cleanse the entire world!”
The small ember that lit up in my hand, began to take a cohesive form.
“Lævateinn!”
And the form the flames took was that of a giant sword.
Surtr’s strongest weapon, the blade that ended an era of mythology!
“Oooh! Pretty impressive?”
“So what, it won’t have any effect on the silver devil anyway.”
“Well, true.”
This isn’t the true Lævateinn.
My contract with Surtr isn’t fair enough for me to bring out the true Lævateinn.
Even so, this is still a demonic weapon that borrowed Lævateinn’s power.
Despite the fact that I brought out a weapon that could rival a divine weapon, my two opponents were far too calm.
“This is your last chance. If you undo your magic now, your hands will stay attached to your wrists.”
It wasn’t that Surtr couldn’t melt the ice with his power.
No matter how weakened he was, the reason that an archdevil Surtr couldn’t destroy this ice was due to his contract that he couldn’t damage my body.
But, that didn’t matter if I used this weapon personally.
“How frightening. But.”
“Isn’t it too late?”
“Wh… at?”
What I fleetingly felt then was undoubtedly killing intent.
Even if we were foes, there was only one place in this entire student festival that emanated killing intent!
“Diiiiiieeeeee!”
“Finish it!”
What came charging in were a giant grey wolf, and a mid-rank wind elemental.
“Damn it!”
I instantly cut the grey wolf with Lævateinn, and burned the wind elemental with fire.
“Damn it…”
This is bad. Including me, all of the Marcis students in this round were all rated the greatest among the current crop of Marcis students.
In contrast, our enemies were a no-name team without a single famous name in sight.
We were careless because of that.
If I was reduced to this state because of just two people.
The other Marcis students that might as well be flowers blooming in greenhouses won’t stand a chance against these madmen!
“Fufufu. I lost yesterday, so now if I lose to another academy, my life is no longer mine to forfeit.”
“Hahaha. Same here. Well, to be accurate, our entire team is.”
Each and every one of the Yugrasia students that appeared were in tatters.
But, out of the six original members of their team, not a single person had dropped out.
Meaning.
“So, if we beat you…”
“The next round is against Yugrasia so we don’t need to meet the silver devil!”
“So that we can live, die!”
“Block it, Surtr!”
Not a single one of them could be described as normal in any shape or form.
Like an ancient warrior, where before battles they would be fed a drug that turned them all into berserkers.
Unrelenting attacks that cared not for their allies.
In the middle of the melee where it would not have been odd for my enemies to be teleported to the healers due to Lævateinn’s flames, in the end, I was defeated.
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