RATH 87
TL: Eevee
10. We came, we saw, we won (12)
#21 Their story: A certain student council president’s(2) story
“N, no way…”
“How could this happen…”
“This is impossible!”
Despairing voices came from the students collapsed on the ground, who couldn’t believe what was unfolding before their eyes.
Day 5 of the imperial festival. Each event was worth 10 points, and three of those events were of a massive scale involving many participants.
When we considered that the terrain of the event was a flat plain, we made the judgement that we had a chance even if we were to go up against Yugrasia.
And when we received a godly draw that had us go up against Mercaria first, we thought our chances were better than ever.
Unfortunately, Lady Nermia was absent from the Marcis team, who we thought would massively cut down the enemy’s fighting capabilities, but even so, after defending against the large scale magic barrages, Yugrasia’s magic power was considerably depleted.
We didn’t have to fight them all.
If we could take out the five that represented their hundred, we had a good chance of winning this.
Was what we were thinking, and so we all charged in, but the unthinkable happened.
The beginning of the incident was when a single person came towards us from Yugrasia’s side.
“Who is that?”
“That’s?”
“It’s the Yugrasia student council president! Nerkia, the Elemental Army!”
The man who was approaching us could be called my arch-enemy and the enviable… I mean, the casanova of the century, Nerkia.
Arucia had less female students compared to the other academies to begin with, and yet this man was the biggest motherf*cker of the era who had taken possession of two out of the five most beautiful flowers of the school.
“Well now, you hadn’t shown up much this imperial festival, unlike before.”
As I, who was somewhat familiar with him, went out to talk with him, Nerkia smiled and took something out from his pocket.
“Mm, I wanted to have a go yesterdays as well, but our devi… I mean, Professor Nicerwin said don’t fight unless it’s an event Lady Nermia is in. So what do I call it, I’m a bit backed up?”
What he took out with a smirk, was the item that could determine victory in this event, his mark as the VIP.
“Do you want to go 1v1?”
If that was the case, then I had a decent chance.
Nerkia was a troublesome opponent, but he was one I fought with every year.
Whether I fell first, or whether he would allow me to close the gap between us would determine victory.
“Hm? No, not that.”
“Are you running away?”
The enemy was someone who had even defended against Marcis’s magic bombardments.
If those people fired barrages of magic against us, then our casualties would mount before we even got close.
The Yugrasia students of late had proven themselves very adept at close combat as well, and so they were a difficult enemy to fight against while injured.
“Not that either.”
“Then what is your objective?”
Although I didn’t see him much this year, just last year, after school or during the holidays, he would come over and flirt disgustingly sweetly with Arietta right in front of our faces.
But while his smile back then and right now looked identical, the mood he gave off now was completely different.
“Objective? Well.”
Each and every one of Arucia’s one hundred students heard loudly and clearly.
“Not 1v1, but 1v100.”
“What?”
For a second there I didn’t understand what had just said.
Not even swordsmasters, called a match for a hundred, actually tried to fight against a hundred people all on their lonesome.
“Are you mad?”
“Yep. Our academy’s gone mad.”
Whatever he found so amusing, Nerkia giggled to himself, and seeing him, even the students who were in fear of Yugrasia started to become angry.
“Even if Yugrasia’s been doing well lately, don’t you just reek of hubris?”
“You want to go up against all of us on your own? Even against Mercaria, no one would say something ridiculous like that?”
“Are you insane? Or do you simply want to show off after losing the spotlight to Lady Aris?”
No one actually swore because the entire scene was being preserved by magic audiovisual tools, but that didn’t change the savage tones of their voices.
“Are you serious, Nerkia?”
“Yep. It does feel kinda weird because it feels like I’m showing off, but I’m serious.”
As he nodded to my words, he carefully looked over each and every one of the students standing before him.
“Thank goodness, it doesn’t seem like Ari or Rena are here.”
“Arietta has entered a solo event, and Lady Rena is participating in a different team event.”
“Thank goodness. To be honest I didn’t think of what I’d do if I had to fight against those two.”
When I saw his genuinely relieved expression, I realised.
This boy was serious when he said he was going to fight all of us on his own.
That meant.
“What are you scheming?”
This is definitely a trap.
While the rest of us focused on Nerkia, was Yugrasia going to snipe off our students that they thought might be our VIPs?
Or, would he enrage all of our academy’s students and pretend to fight, then retreat to where an ambush was lying in wait?
But Nerkia denied everything I was thinking of.
“No, no schemes, no plans or anything like that. I just want to know.”
Want to know?
“Know what?”
At my question, Nerkia made a self-deprecating smile, one that didn’t suit how he normally acted.
“To be honest with you, I thought I was a genius. Since I was little, an elf, one who people call a resident of the forest, said I had splendid potential to be a summoner.”
All of a sudden, a blue aura started to surround Nerkia.
“Lowest-rank spirits…”
Spirits that had only been recently born, that didn’t even have wills of their own.
They were the spirits weaker than low-rank spirits, an existence even harder to meet than a low-rank spirit.
Because unlike low-rank spirits, who were weak but still had their own will, lowest-rank spirits moved purely on instinct.
“That didn’t change even after I came to Yugrasia. At the end of the holidays of my first year, I was scouted to the student council, in my second year I was a senior member, and in my third year I became president as if it was natural. In all seriousness, when you looked at pure talent alone, none of the other students or even any of the teachers could outdo me.”
A red aura began to mix in with the blue.
And behind that, a green aura, and behind that, a brown aura flew towards him.
“President, is he trying to do something?”
“No… lowest-rank spirits cannot attack.”
Lowest-rank spirits were spirits, yet at the same time they were not.
They were a collection of nature’s elements that had formed to become a spirit.
Because of that they could exist, but couldn’t attack or defend.
“But, they are extremely sensitive to nature.”
Low-rank spirits could detect Nerkia’s potential and run to him to make a contract.
Because he was a summoner that could allow them to get stronger.
However, lowest-rank spirits don’t even think, let alone take things like that into consideration.
In other words, that meant that pure nature itself saw enough in Nerkia’s potential to cling to him.
“But this year, after Professor Nicerwin came, I realised. I was simply a frog in the well, no, just a tadpole. When I was simply paddling in a small well that was reflecting the skies above, I thought I was soaring through those same skies.”
“Everyone, prepare to attack!”
All of a sudden, the mana in the air shifted.
We could feel something dominating the space itself.
“What are you doing, Nerkia!”
“Hm? I told you. I was going to fight you all. Now, where was i? that’s right, had I said that the lessons I had experienced up till now weren’t even lessons? Or that I learned the existence of a pain that made you realise that death is a relief?”
“Damn it, Group 1, go deal with him! Before he does anything else!”
This magic power was not something to be taken lightly.
A magic power that was strong enough to suppress the very atmosphere around it, there was no way Nerkia could emit this level of magic power so easily.
“Hmm… I think I’ve gone on for a bit too long. To sum it up, I’ve gotten stronger. But since our academy’s all gone to the dogs, I don’t know how much stronger I’ve gotten.”
“Shut up!”
“Enough of your weird talk, you will fall here, Nerkia!”
“Haap!”
The members of Group 1, the strongest out of the 100 gathered here, instantly closed the distance between themselves and Nerkia and swung their swords infused with sword ki.
“And so, let me fight against you guys, see what level I’m at.”
Even as the swords aimed at his arms, legs and torso, Nerkia didn’t even blink as he said.
“O King.”
And the moment the blades were about to touch his body.
“Sweep them away.”
“Kuaaaagghhh!”
“Kuhk!”
“Kaaaaaaaaahhhhgh!”
With a golden light and a crackling noise, a chorus of screams reached my ears.
“What the! Gaaahhgh!”
“Dodge, dooodge iiiit!”
“Aaaaaagh!”
“Save… save me…”
As the three who bared their blades at Nerkia first disappeared in the glows of the magic circles, the other members of Group 1 behind them began to scream.
“What on…”
Ten of Arucia’s elite swordsmen had been instantly vaporised.
As I stared at the sight, stunned, I heard other noises from around me.
“It’s so beautiful…”
“It’s pretty.”
Behind Nerkia was something that resembled a golden pillar, and surrounding it were lowest-rank spirits of many colours, creating a fantastical appearance.
A number of female students were enraptured by the sight, but I could only stare at that giant golden pillar.
“Spirit King?”
Nerkia had definitely said “O King.”
A being that Nerkia, a summoner would call King, and possessed a golden light even so.
Even I, who knew nothing about summoning, knew.
“Spirit King of Lightning…”
“I told you, Kiir. I want to fight against a hundred. Ah, would it just be ninety left now?”
Even the students that had been staring at the breathtaking sight realised.
That the person in front of them all, was genuinely going to fight against all of them.
And that… that he could actually win!
“Damn it, we can’t even step back now.”
“That’s what I want.”
If Arucia’s core forces ran away from just a single person, that was no less than announcing the fall of Arucia.
In other words, that meant there was no way to protect Arucia’s honour except by defeating this man.
“Don’t you dare run away!”
“Don’t worry about that.”
People took out their swords, spears, axes and charged at Nerkia.
“Strength of the earth.”
“Gaaaghhh!”
“Sword of water.”
“Damn it!”
“Blade of wind.”
“Khhahhgh!”
“Spear of fire.”
“Kyaahh!”
“O King.”
“Nerkiaaaaaaaaaaa!”
But, not a single person managed to reach Nerkia.
A total of eight elementals, of fire, water, wind and earth appeared at each of Nerkia’s words.
And standing in the middle was a single giant Spirit King of Lightning.
“What the heck, it really wasn’t much after all.”
And in that scene looked like it came straight from a myth, standing beneath them was a very unamused-looking Nerkia, who just last year was a foe I stood a decent chance against.
“Just, how…”
In the end, I fell to the third attack from the Spirit King of Lightning, and could only look up at Nerkia from the ground where I lay, electrified and paralyzed.
And to my words, Nerkia said with a expression that said ‘it wasn’t much.’
“Well, it’s simply. All you have to do is study for 14 hours a day at school.”
“What?”
My brain stopped working for a second.
What sort of bullshit is that.
“You have to go to school at 8 and stay till 6 at night. Of course after resting a bit, you need to study voluntarily until 10pm. Of course, you can’t get strong with just that. The most important thing is, you have to run away from that.”
I could understand needing to study a lot.
But weren’t the words after that weird? They tell you to study and yet you have to run away from that?
“And once you flee enough, you can meet it. The silver devil.”
“Silver devil?”
Nerkia’s look as he appeared to reminisce in his memories didn’t give me the impression that he was lying.
That didn’t mean that I could understand him.
“Yes, once you overcome death like that, you can become stronger. No, you automatically become stronger.”
“What… what the hell are you saaaayyyyyyiiing!”
As Nerkia kept spouting nonsense, I lifted my sword and charged at him once again.
“Really, can the other academies not understand.”
Nerkia sighed as he looked at me, and waved his hands and commanded to his spirits.
“Sweep them away.”
On that day, not a single one of us could get anywhere near Nerkia.
Just like that, at the hands of just a single person, all of us were defeated.
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