#41. The Throw!

At Lunia Academy, only Professor Felliana carries any true notoriety.

Her assignments are the subject of many a student’s ire.

But we must understand this:

Notoriety requires a certain degree of humanity to spread.

Therefore, who is the professor that students ‘truly’ avoid?

Who is the worst professor, one whose very presence fails to inspire even notoriety?

“What does she think she’s doing out there…”

Cecil Bellette.

The red-haired woman had gone and drawn her sword.

In that instant, chaos erupted across the arena.

The referee ordered Professor Cecil to leave the grounds.

The professors of Pellit Academy moved in unison.

Professors of the Magic Department conjured defensive and restraining spells, while professors from the Knight Department, along with security, rushed toward her.

Even amid all this, those crimson eyes were fixated on one person.

“You didn’t even try to stop the Severing Magic…”

She muttered the words.

“Out of the way.”

And then she stomped on the ground with force.

*Kugng!*

The ground shook for a moment. The arena began to crack, letting out a drawn out groan.

The charging professors and security personnel faltered, thrown off balance by the sudden act of destruction.

It afforded a sliver of an opening, one Professor Cecil didn’t waste.

Treading on the wreckage of the arena, the crimson blur of her ascended skyward, a shot from a bow.

Negating defense magic in an instant. Shattering wards and all manner of protective enchantments.

Her destination: directly before Ivan Ward, still struggling to activate his flight spell.

“W-wait a…!”

The doltish student shouted for her to halt, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Ears so firmly shut are not easily opened. Professor Cecil, unswayed by external factors, acted solely on the orders of her mind.

“Thought you had some guts, but you’re just trash, after all.”

She swung her blade. A sword crackling with aura.

But there was no intent to cleave him in two. Even for a loose cannon like Professor Cecil, bisecting a student was a step too far.

And so.

“Guh…!”

Ivan Ward, struck by the flat of the blade, plummeted to the ground, a ragdoll.

“Khuk…”

She wouldn’t kill him.

Nor would she sever his arm, not like what he did.

Her last shreds of professorial reason held her back.

But that also meant…

“Get up.”

She could do everything else.

“Professor Cecil! Are you insane?!”

A professor from Pellit shouted.

Professor Cecil responded.

“Perfectly sane.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“He disregarded the rules and severed my student’s arm. He deserves to pay the price.”

Realizing words were futile, the other professors once again rushed her.

A man with a sword.

A woman wielding a spear.

A man drawing an arrow.

A barrage of diverse weaponry descended upon Professor Cecil.

“…”

The designation of ‘knight forged in war’ was a badge in itself.

It spoke of a survivor, someone strong enough to have lived through a place where people died like ants.

I realized.

During our duel, Professor Cecil hadn’t shown me her full strength.

Back then, it had been a delicate application of force. And it was to keep me alive.

KWA-GA-GA-GA—!!

Professor Cecil brought her sword down upon the ground.

The arena, already shattered, had almost half of it blown away, a choking dust cloud obscuring everything.

Faint glimmers sparked within the haze.

There were other hues, but red dominated.

The clash of swords grew less frequent, each strike a testament to dwindling numbers.

Before the dust fully settled, the Knighting Faculty lay collapsed.

Professor Cecil refocused on her initial quarry.

Ivan Ward, a wreck of a man, was attempting to flee.

As if to aid his escape, the Arcane Faculty Professors wove their spells.

Multi-Binding Artifice.

Chains erupted from the magic circle, wrapping around Professor Cecil’s entire being.

Properly restrained, Professor Cecil paused a moment, then simply shattered the chains with brute force.

The Arcane Faculty Professors, aghast, began casting offensive spells instead.

Blinding Flash.

Electric Shock.

Flaming Orb.

A searing light temporarily stole Professor Cecil’s vision.

Immediately following, a rapid surge of electricity and a slow, but menacing, fireball threatened to engulf her.

Professor Cecil…

“Is this all?”

She batted away the electric shock barehanded, a strike guided by instinct.

The fireball she casually bisected, and soon the blinding flash lost its potency.

Opening her eyes, Professor Cecil charged towards Ivan.

Numerous spells assaulted her, but she dodged, blocked, and simply endured as she pressed forward.

Grabbing the back of Ivan Ward’s head, she slammed it into the ground. Forcibly lifting him, she repeated the action.

“Gkk…!”

Ivan, a broken mess, begged for forgiveness incessantly, but continued to be assaulted until he lost consciousness.

In a pathetic attempt to resist, he cast Severing Magic on Professor Cecil, but it barely scratched her skin.

That was the weakness of Severing Magic. Unless wielded by a true master, it couldn’t pierce the hide of a properly enhanced knight. Even if the casting requirement was merely ‘line of sight’…

Against someone like Professor Cecil, Severing Magic was utterly meaningless.

Anyway, Ivan continued to be beaten.

In the end, he wet himself and whimpered.

A miserable sight.

Professor Cecil, her anger sated, left the arena of her own accord.

“…What happens now?”

Charlotte asked.

“I don’t know.”

She claimed ignorance, unwilling to contemplate the aftermath.

Five people down. One of them a student.

What were they going to do about all this? She couldn’t begin to fathom it.

“What about Kevin?”

“Went to the infirmary while the professor was losing it. They said it was a clean cut and they can reattach it…”

“That’s a relief.”

“But, Rain-nim.”

Charlotte scratched her head, asking.

“Isn’t this whole competition… well, screwed?”

*

Of course, the exchange meet was temporarily postponed.

“Postponed is just a nice way of saying it’s basically over, right?”

That was Charlotte speaking.

I honestly agreed.

A Pellet student broke the rules and sliced off an opponent’s arm.

The opposing professor saw that and beat the student half to death.

The worst incident in the exchange meet’s history happened today. There’s really no way to continue the matches in this state.

“Huh? They’re still going on?”

But they are.

Two hours after the competition’s supposed postponement.

The officials themselves announced that the competition would resume.

I wondered what the reason was, and after listening, it seems the other academies objected strongly.

Why should *I* suffer because some other guys are causing a ruckus?

We came all this way, are we just supposed to go back empty-handed? Things like that.

After they threw a fit, they decided to just continue.

Pellet Academy will continue with two fewer students.

Lunia Academy’s professor is banned from the competition grounds. Disciplinary action will be taken later.

Due to the somewhat sudden situation, the Empire’s response wasn’t very smooth.

“…Is this really the right thing to do?”

The stadium was hastily repaired.

The audience had almost completely disappeared.

An uncomfortable atmosphere permeated the competition grounds.

“Why touch a guy who was going to be disqualified anyway…”

“Exactly.”

“If you were going to touch him, you should have waited until it was over.”

“Pardon?”

Professor Cecil’s punishment…

The key is how the Empire views this incident.

Will they focus on the student’s severing magic, or the professor’s assault?

Hopefully, it’ll be a good outcome.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be worrying about others.”

Ivan Ward has been playing the villain perfectly this whole time.

He ruined the matches from the first day with leaks and whatnot, and on the second day, he brazenly broke the rules, making the opposing professor go wild.

The result? The stadium was wrecked, the tournament postponed, and students from other academies who had traveled so far were nearly sent packing.

A proper b*stard, that Ivan Ward. No defending him. Likely, many were sharpening their knives for him.

Problem was, Ivan Ward had already withdrawn. No target for their venting.

So where did their rage turn?

“……”

To the one most deeply entangled with Ivan Ward.

The one at the heart of the commotion from day one.

The b*stard whose name Ivan Ward had called as he strode onto the field.

Rain Ortiz.

I felt the stinging gazes on my skin moments ago. Students from the other academies.

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t do anything wrong…”

I became the target for everyone, just like that.

“Charlotte.”

“Yes?”

“Couldn’t you just, like, go out there and end this?”

“You think that’s even possible?”

I ruffled my hair.

All Ivan’s fault, that son of a b*tch. He just had to complicate things.

To be unilaterally exposed to the emotions of others was exhausting.

And I was feeling it now, directed at me by a crowd.

Time passed, and it was Lunia Academy’s turn again.

“……Should I go out first?”

I still felt those stinging gazes from the opposite waiting area.

I let out a deep sigh. Gave Charlotte’s shoulder a pat and walked past her.

“I’ll go.”

Since things had come to this, might as well properly test out the new gear.

“Rest up.”

I picked up my bag and headed onto the field.

“Rain Ortiz.”

“Wow, I’m famous.”

“Of course. You’re one of the main culprits who ruined the exchange.”

“You think it’s my fault, too?”

The opponent was a student from Haven Academy.

What was his name again? Anyway.

He was wearing heavy gauntlets on both hands.

“Ivan Ward bears the brunt of it, sure. But I can’t say you didn’t contribute.”

“……Yeah, well, think what you want.”

I opened my bag. What to try out… While I was considering, my opponent spoke again.

“I heard you’re a scholar.”

He brought his gauntlets up, adopting a guarded stance.

“I’ll give you a chance to win. Attack first.”

“……”

Decided.

Let’s go with this.

Something is pulled from the bag. An object the size of a potato.

I pull its pin, throw it at the brute, and lower my stance.

“……What are you doing?”

“Just wait.”

A moment later.

The ‘Magic Engineering Grenade’ exploded.