Lucas had just witnessed History Magic in action for the very first time. Or rather, "witnessed" was perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, since there was nothing truly visible to observe, but it was still a Magic that, if what Demetrius had said was true, rendered him immune to any kind of attack. Lucas didn't really mind that it couldn't be seen; to him, it still felt like incredibly cool magic. However, mixed in with the excitement of seeing his first history Magic, there was also a faint sense of discomfort. If the Indo-Greek king was truly invincible, then there was no way for Aurola to win, and Lucas genuinely wanted the Minister of Education to be victorious.
In the few weeks since he had gotten to know Aurola, Lucas had come to realize that he liked her quite a lot. Even though she was often called the mother of ministers because of how well she managed to keep the other five in check, balancing kindness with firmness in a way many in the palace described as maternal, Lucas personally saw her more as a kind older sister. This was probably because, as queen, Aurola could not afford to be overly strict, or perhaps simply because Lucas/Alberia didn't really require strictness to begin with. The few occasions when Lucas had been able to speak with her alone had been genuinely pleasant moments, despite the fact that he could not reveal his secret to her. Unlike Scuro or Lucrio, she was capable of speaking informally with Lucas without crossing into impertinence, and she was always ready to listen with a gentle smile to any doubts he voiced, giving Lucas a deep sense of familiarity and comfort.
But that wasn't the only reason the new queen didn't want Aurola to lose. There was also the simple but heartfelt thought of Agratà—that bundle of pure positive energy—being unable to challenge her beloved teacher. It would have been sad to see that happen. It was a match Agratà had been eagerly waiting for, and now Lucas found himself sharing that same anticipation.
"Do you think Demetrius is really invincible, and that no kind of attack can harm him?" Lucas asked his mother and his sister.
Sequoria nodded slowly before replying in a thoughtful tone. "King Demetrius doesn't strike me as the type of person who would lie, but precisely because of that, I'm fairly certain he wasn't lying when he said there is a way to deactivate his indestructibility."
"Since it's a type of magic, would making him use all his mana work to deactivate it?" Lucas suggested.
"I don't think so..." Aislyra interjected. "If it were some kind of general spell or derived magic spell, I would tell you it might be possible. But history Magics tend not only to require very little mana, they also tend to deactivate only under specific conditions, especially if they the type that remain active for long periods of time or even permanently. So it's likely that even if Demetrius ran out of mana, he would remain indestructible anyway, a bit like the Snowstorm spell used by the boy who fought Katerina in her match. And besides, remember that, just like you, all heroes double the amount of mana their new bodies can use once their souls enter them. So I'm sure that, like you and Caesar, Demetrius has an absurd amount of mana. Basically, trying to exhaust their mana is not a viable option against a hero," Aislyra explained, her interest in the match clearly evident.
"But don't worry, big sister. I'm sure Aurola will figure out how to deactivate that magic. After all, she's the second smartest minister after Scuro!" Aislyra added with a smug grin.
With the massive club of pure electricity clenched in his hands, Demetrius immediately launched a counterattack. Moving with incredible speed and wielding immense strength, he closed the distance between himself and Aurola and brought the club down hitting Aurola with the power of a hundred lightning bolts, gripping it tightly with both hands. Or at least, that was what should have happened—if the minister hadn't possessed such terrifying reflexes. In a fluid, masterful motion, she grabbed both of the ancient king's arms and redirected the attack toward the ground. This time, she didn't even attempt to harm him, having already realized that brute force alone would not be enough.
Yet the confident smile on Demetrius's face did not waver. The instant the club struck the arena floor with all its power, the ground directly beneath it, along with a circular area of roughly five square meters around it, shattered into massive chunks of earth. The impact even affected Aurola, who nearly lost her balance. But the surprises were not over yet. A violent wave of electricity burst from the club, surging through the shattered ground and striking the minister as well, catching her completely off guard.
At that moment, Aurola felt as if the blood inside her veins were vaporizing. The lenses of her glasses shattered, and several burns immediately formed across her body, which for a few moments became much harder to maneuver due to the violent shock running through her muscles and nerves.
Demetrius, already aware that this would happen, was prepared to take advantage of the opening.
He released his left hand from the club and calmly declared, "Electric Tusk." In the next instant, his right arm was completely enveloped in crackling electricity, taking the shape of a elephant's tusk, which he hurled forward like a spear, aiming straight for the minister's stomach.
A flicker of fear crossed Aurola's eyes, though it was a fear firmly controlled by her long years of experience. If that blow landed, it would mark the end of her participation in this year's tournament. But Aurola could not afford to lose. Aside from the obvious fact that being defeated in her very first match on the very first day of the preliminaries, without managing to deal any real damage to her opponent, would badly affect her position, it would also damage both the reputation of the six ministers of Yggdora and the honor of the style she mastered and led: the Falling Leaf.
If such a premature defeat would only have negative effects on her, she would not have hated the idea too much. After all, King Demetrius, even without taking his History Magic into account, was clearly an outstanding fighter and warrior, and being defeated by such a man would bring no real shame to her. BUT! She absolutely could not allow her trusted fellow ministers and her beloved, adorable students to be underestimated because of her loss!
…Plus, there was also the promise she had made to Agratà.
LOSING WAS NOT AN OPTION!
But there wasn't enough time to cast Titanium Armor to protect her stomach, and her body was still struggling to respond properly after the electrical shock. She couldn't dodge the blow completely. The only choice left was to reduce the damage as much as possible.
With pure willpower, Aurola forced her numb body to shift a few centimeters to the right. As a result, Demetrius's electric tusk did not pierce her stomach, but instead incinerated a fairly large portion of flesh on the outer, right side of her pelvis. The attack still created a deep, agonizing wound, but not one powerful enough to knock the minister out in a single strike.
Seeing this, Demetrius smiled.
Fortunately, perhaps thanks to the pain tearing through her body, the numbness that had overwhelmed Aurola began to fade. She immediately slammed a powerful punch into the already fractured ground beneath Demetrius's club, creating a massive cloud of dust that exploded upward and spread between them, which Aurola used as a visual distraction from her opponent.
Using the brief cover created by the cloud, she retreated again, this time putting even more distance between herself and the king. And to the surprise of most of the spectators, after tossing aside her now-broken glasses, the Minister of Education suddenly began to undress.
Demetrius chose to do nothing and simply enjoy the spectacle.
The woman removed her elegant black pants and tossed them aside, revealing beneath them training trousers of a reddish-brown martial arts uniform, and just below her waist, a tightly bound black belt. She then moved to her jacket, unbuttoning it in an instant and letting it fall to the arena floor, revealing the upper part of what was clearly a reddish-brown martial arts training outfit. Around the clearly visible hole created by the king's attack. The fabric was already darkening as it absorbed blood.
At that point, many believed Aurola had finished, even Demetrius, who prepared to move again—until the woman began opening the top of her uniform.
In that instant, the eyes of nearly all the men watching the match became fixed on her.
Yet what appeared was neither a bare chest nor simple underwear. Her breasts were tightly wrapped and supported by several white bandages. The rest of her torso and pelvis, however, were completely exposed, revealing a sensual yet powerfully trained body. Two things immediately drew attention. The first was the massive wound on her side, where a chunk of flesh shaped almost like a half-cylinder seemed to have been erased from existence.
The second was something far more peculiar.
On the skin of the girl's lower back was a huge tattoo of a shimmering golden-brown autumn leaf. That tattoo was the sacred symbol indicating mastery in the style of the Falling Leaf—the moment when a student becomes the new master of both the style and the dojo that teaches it. It is the responsibility of the previous master to inscribe it upon the body of the successor. Its size reflects the skill and level reached at the exact moment one ascends to the rank of master.
With this, everyone believed that the moment to resume the match had finally arrived, but Aurola once again surprised the spectators. Instead of immediately returning to combat, she began to untie the bandages that were wrapped around her ample breasts. To the disappointment of much of the male audience, however, she stopped before even the slightest glimpse of her nipples could be seen. Using her teeth, she tore away the loosened bandages and immediately pressed them against her wound, skillfully wrapping them around it to slow and mitigate the loss of blood.
While performing these actions with practiced efficiency, her mind was racing, fully focused on how to deactivate her opponent's History Magic. Two possibilities instantly formed in the minister's thoughts, based on her past encounters with History Magic.
The first possibility was the existence of some kind of object that, if broken, destroyed, or interfered with, would deactivate her opponent's invincibility. Alternatively, it could be a specific point on Demetrius's body that, if struck correctly, would nullify his magic.
The second possibility was that the magic depended on a specific condition, circumstance, or time of day.
She immediately dismissed the second option. If the deactivation of the spell were tied to a specific moment in time, there was nothing she could do about it. She had no control over time itself. And if it required a particular situation, there was no way for her to deduce what that situation might be. These kinds of weaknesses were often deeply connected to the hero's past life in the other world, and Aurola knew nothing about Demetrius's life before arriving in this world.
So she had no choice but to gamble on the first possibility.
'Some kind of object that's making him invincible…' Aurola thought.
Almost immediately, the elephant-headed headdress worn by King Demetrius came to mind.
'No, that's impossible,' she ruled it out at once, along with any other visible object he was wearing. If Demetrius had been carrying the source of his invincibility on his body, it would have been destroyed earlier, when he had been slammed into the ground with tremendous force. This also eliminated the idea that the weakness was a specific point on his body, since her first and second attacks had already struck nearly every part of him.
That left only one remaining possibility.
The object was hidden somewhere inside the arena itself.
Demetrius had allowed the minister to tend to her wound partly out of curiosity and partly because he was clearly enjoying the spectacle. But the moment she finished wrapping the bandages, the ancient king resumed his assault.
"We thank you for the performance, Lady," Demetrius declared, lunging forward with his massive club of pure electricity. "But if you have nothing else to entertain us with, we believe it is time to bring this match to an end!"
This time, Aurola did not attempt to dodge or redirect the attack. Instead, she turned and ran as fast as her body would allow, making sure Demetrius could not catch her immediately.
For a brief instant, the king of Avoria was taken aback by what he perceived as sudden cowardice. But that hesitation vanished almost immediately, replaced by an amused smile, as he set off in pursuit.
The chase continued for several minutes, spreading across the entire arena, even passing through the massive hole created earlier in the match. Throughout it all, Aurola carefully stayed outside the effective range of the electric shockwaves produced whenever Demetrius's club struck the ground. At the same time, every so often, she would abruptly stop for less than a second and slam her fists into the arena floor.
Eventually, after covering almost every corner of the stadium, her expression darkened.
"Damn it… I haven't found anything…" she muttered to herself, her voice filled with frustration. She had searched the entire arena and found nothing. This could only mean that Demetrius's invincibility depended on some specific condition, something she would never uncover unless the king himself decided to recount his entire life story.
Victory was now painfully distant.
'I'm sorry, Agratà… it seems our meeting will have to wait. I'm sorry I disappointed you…' she thought sadly.
Preparing herself for what would likely be her final and futile attack of the match, Aurola took one last, careful look at her opponent.
And in that instant, faint as it was, a spark of hope returned to her eyes.
At the same time, Demetrius finally caught up to her and raised his electric club high, preparing to end the battle. In less than a second, the weapon was descending with overwhelming force toward the minister, who had suddenly stopped running.
BUT!!!
"Earth Armor: Large Hand!" Aurola chanted.
Her right arm was instantly engulfed in a massive amount of earth, forming an enormous hand five times larger than normal. With that single, colossal hand, she grabbed both of Demetrius's arms, completely halting the descent of the club. Then, with her free hand, she threw a punch—
A punch aimed at something very specific.