Ellente (4)
If the star rank and mastery of magic were what determined the completeness of a technique, then the total amount of mana itself could be compared to basic physical strength.
No matter how many excellent spells one learned, if there was not enough mana to realize them, their meaning often faded.
If one were to list the reasons why commoners could not catch up to the magic achievement of nobles, one could easily name dozens, but one of the biggest reasons was precisely the inborn amount of mana.
Mages born with the Bloodline of noble families often possessed an extraordinary amount of mana from birth.
And if they were mages of the Duplein Ducal House, Duke Beltus, or the Belmiard family, there was no need to even mention it.
–Hwaaaak!
The 1-star magic that Ellente unleashed with both hands was, in terms of sheer scale alone, at a level that would make even mages at the very entrance of 2-star click their tongues.
The difference between 1-star and 2-star was no different from the difference between an arrow and a cannonball. By nature, there had to be a huge gap in power, but if an overwhelming quantity covered everything, the meaning could sometimes change.
Ellente's magic was exactly like that.
The wall of flames erupting around her looked as if it would devour the entire world. Who in the world could deny it? She was the most talented mage in the Belmiard family.
However, her opponent was Aiselin Eleanor Duplein.
Her father was a 5-star mage, one of the few to be found even on this continent. Someone who could use magic of such enormous scale without batting an eye.
Anyone would be overwhelmed when seeing magic of that level for the first time, but Aiselin had seen it several times. Without panicking too much, she drew up her mana and manifested the 1-star magic 'Shockwave'.
–Hwaak!
There was no need to completely neutralize that enormous magic. It was enough just to protect her own body.
Aiselin also was not incapable of using such flashy magic. It was just that in this kind of magic duel, where elegance was valued, there were many important things to consider besides the scale of magic.
Ellente must have known that as well, but as if to say, "So what?", she manifested omnidirectional magic and pressed Aiselin.
In each heavy blow of mana was Ellente's sincerity. The will itself to 반드시 win.
'The amount of mana is amazing, but ..! If she doesn't concentrate it at one point, it'll run dry quickly....!'
Sweat ran down in the rising heat, and she resolved that she must never let her guard down.
'The larger the scale of the magic, the more openings there are....! I can see a gap....!'
Young Lady Aiselin saw Young Lady Ellente beyond the flames, radiating mana. The mana arrow, charged in an instant, curved through the air and flew in, striking Young Lady Ellente directly.
'It hit!'
It was the moment her face brightened.
The body of Young Lady Ellente, which had seemed to be emitting mana, turned into mana and disappeared in an instant.
In an instant, Young Lady Aiselin corrected her stance. Illusion-type magic, 'lower-rank illusion'.
Illusion techniques using mana were the most representative skills of Illusion-type magic, but a 1-star level illusion could not move properly like that and could hardly imitate the original, only creating a low-grade illusion like that.
It was a magic that disappeared into mana the moment it was hit, nothing more and nothing less than a target.
However, in this extreme situation where everything was covered in magical flames, it was not easy to distinguish those illusions.
When she came to her senses, Ellente's appearance was filling her surroundings. If one looked closely, one could notice the strangeness of each one, but Ellente had no intention of giving her that leeway.
Only now did she understand why Ellente had launched such a wide-ranging attack while wasting mana. It was to keep pressing Aiselin and throw her into Confusion.
In such confusion, if a surprise strike were delivered, could even Aiselin respond properly? There was no certainty.
'Her technique itself has become much more mature, and her way of using it has become more diverse....!'
Above all, it was flashy and dazzling.
It was the perfect scale for this magic duel between prestigious families that so many people had come to watch. Showing off magic skill and raising the family's name was something seen more often than expected in such magic duel settings.
From outside her field of vision, several mana arrows flew in and stuck.
Aiselin caught all the arrows with quick reflexes, but it was a sharp strike that could have decided the outcome if she had been even a little slower.
Enticement and inducing confusion—if used poorly, it could look petty, but she hid that under diverse and flashy usage. In the end, it was close to using tricks to defeat the opponent, but the beauty coming from the banquet of flames blooming like flowers buried all such intentions.
In fact, everyone present was completely captivated by the beautifully rising flames.
If Aiselin was a pure white lily, Ellente was a gorgeously blooming rose.
As if proving that fact, she was revealing her identity through magic.
The way she strolled leisurely between the flames and brushed off her skirt hem looked like a peacock grooming its feathers. Her red-draped hair had also become part of the flames.
Aiselin easily saw, within Ellente's gorgeously blooming appearance, that the influence of that white-haired mercenary had seeped into every detail.
She had absorbed the mercenaries' characteristic adaptability and quickness without losing her own flashiness.
– "Do not let your guard down too much."
Young Lady Aiselin fully understood that advice Derrick had given her.
It was different from when he taught Delia. The mages who had received that boy's teachings often came with ways to catch the opponent off guard, in one way or another.
Considering that one of that boy's specialties was Illusion-type magic, it was clear that it had influenced Ellente's strategy.
'If it comes to this, I have no choice but to push with firepower too....!'
Aiselin did not particularly like using grand magic that she showed off, but that did not mean she could not do it.
If the opponent could not be subdued by parrying each exchange like swinging a sword, then she would have no choice but to pour down a rain of arrows from this side as well.
Thus, Aiselin drew up her mana and manifested dozens of huge ice spears.
–Ooh!
–To draw out magic of that level with almost no incantation!
Sounds of admiration flowed out from the audience.
Aiselin's speed of manifesting magic was at a level that even seasoned mages would nod at.
However, the ice spears Aiselin had manifested were all shattered before they could even take proper direction and fly.
–Crash! Bang!
When she came to her senses, the mana arrows that had already flown from Young Lady Ellente's body had all stuck into the ice spears and exploded.
Ellente had already experienced this from Derrick as well.
Before the opponent even set the direction of mana usage, Derrick would respond preemptively and neutralize the magic.
That delicate use of mana was not something one could imitate just by seeing it once, but she had seen it dozens, hundreds of times while wandering the labyrinth with him.
Mana has direction.
If you read the opponent's intention, you can also see the direction the magic will go.
Those theories that Derrick had talked about until his mouth went dry now felt as if they were finally being internalized and starting to be used in real combat.
Ellente was feeling a strange exhilaration.
The advice that the boy casually tossed out in daily life was all starting to have meaning in real combat.
Even words that would not have been strange to just let go in one ear were, in fact, each and every one practical advice based on experience.
In real combat, it was hard to find a teacher better than Derrick.
That was something both Aiselin and Ellente realized.
Aiselin's eyes widened for a moment, then she quickly regained her composure.
She had subconsciously thought that Ellente's level of magic was far below her own, but in an instant she realized that all those thoughts had been nothing but arrogance.
She was quick at self-reflection, and quick to adapt.
Young Lady Aiselin rebuilt all her premises from the beginning and decided to go all out.
–Whoosh!
The feeling that she was fighting Aiselin on equal footing.
To Ellente, whose chest was swelling with that exhilaration, the cold blade of reality flew in.
The mana of Aiselin, who had decided to go all out, began to cover the duel arena.
After that, everything happened in an instant.
First, the banquet of flames that had filled the duel arena all disappeared, as if it had never existed from the start.
And the mana arrows that Ellente had been gathering were all crushed by enormous mana and disappeared as well. This too, as if they had never existed.
Young Lady Ellente opened her eyes wide.
That girl, like a flower of the Duplein Ducal House standing on the opposite side of the platform, did not make any particularly great movements, nor did she show any emotional expression.
She simply gently closed and opened her eyes, took a deep breath, grabbed the fluttering skirt hem in the surging mana, and put strength into her gaze.
At that moment, the world was dyed in silence.
It was not even star-rank magic. Just with the amount of mana rising, she had crushed Ellente's magic.
There was no technical factor involved in the process.
Like an adult crushing a child who was using flashy techniques with sheer arm strength.... the girl had completely neutralized all of Ellente's magic using nothing but the pure amount of mana.
A mage who was almost at 2-star, and a mage who had only just become mature at 1-star.
The time had come to truly realize how big that seemingly trivial difference actually was.
All of this was not for the sake of crushing Ellente's magic. It was merely a preparation process for the next magic.
She still looked neat and dignified. As if the expression "a pure white lily" fit perfectly, the hand that brushed the end of her prettily draped dress soon clenched into a fist.
At that moment, Ellente's vision went white from the great light that burst forth.
–KABOOM!
The explosion came a little later.
*
–"Derrick, to be honest, I don't know if I can beat Young Lady Aiselin."
–"I've been telling you all along. You will win."
–"Can you really be that sure?"
–"Yes. Actually.... to be precise...."
Ellente recalled the words the boy had said among the corpses of monsters.
– "You will win."
The boy's assertion that he would definitely make it so Ellente could beat Aiselin.
She had endured difficult times believing only that, but now she could not help but doubt those words once again.
Aiselin's eyes grew serious, and the magic that burst from her hand in an instant was the 2-star magic 'Fireball'.
A huge explosion, enough to cover the entire platform, spread out, and cries of admiration and surprise burst out from the audience.
The girl had just used 2-star magic.
Even the observers from the School of Magic had no choice but to open their eyes wide at the sight.
'This.... can this.... really be....?'
Young Lady Ellente managed to protect her body from the aftermath of the explosion.
There was only one reason she could maintain her defense magic even while 2-star magic flew in. It was because she was lucky.
Young Lady Aiselin was still unskilled at using 2-star magic. She had drawn out all her strength and tried to raise the accuracy as much as possible, but the Fireball she launched went completely out of range, so Young Lady Ellente only had to endure the aftermath.
If it had been just a little more accurate, it would have been decided right then and there.
"Haah.... haah...."
Young Lady Aiselin was panting as if exhausted.
If one looked only at the situation, it seemed as if Aiselin was being pushed back, but the range and influence of that attack had already proven everything. That tactics of enticement like before would no longer work on Young Lady Aiselin.
Each of her blows neutralized all petty tricks at once.
In front of this overwhelming difference in capability, what technique could possibly have any meaning?
However, Young Lady Ellente held her breath for a moment, then quickly widened the distance and gathered mana again.
Although admiration was in the air at the sight of her using 2-star magic, Young Lady Ellente did not care about that.
With the single-minded determination to win, she drew up her mana again and tried to confuse her using all kinds of magic as she had done before.
If she could not win by pitting capability against capability, she intended to drive her into a corner using every means she had.
After exchanging several more bouts, when the second Fireball flew in, exclamations burst out again among the spectators.
It was still tremendous firepower, but it was not easy to completely subdue Ellente with an unskilled 2-star magic. She could somehow evade it, but.... it was clear that even a graze would decide everything.
But.... even in front of that overwhelming difference in capability, Ellente could feel a faint sense of victory.
The face of Young Lady Aiselin that she saw while exchanging magic again and again. The composure had largely disappeared from that expression.
Through the cold sweat that was gradually flowing out, she could tell that Aiselin was being driven into a corner.
Only then did it feel as if all of Derrick's strategies fit together like a puzzle.
With sheer capability alone, she could never beat Aiselin.
But in Derrick's calculations, Aiselin's upright nature had also been included.
Once she acknowledged her opponent and began to face them as a worthy rival, the upright Aiselin would use all the power she could.
She would show all the cards she had and try to have an honest, all-out match. Aiselin was that kind of person.
The problem was that her 2-star magic was still in a transitional, unskilled stage.
A 2-star magic that she could not perfectly control was a monster that devoured mana. Once she became proficient, the mana efficiency would improve, but 2-star magic used while still unskilled would drain mana in an instant.
Given her personality, once she decided to go all out, she would obviously use 2-star magic. In a duel, giving it your all was respect and etiquette toward the opponent.
Then the very efficiency of the mana the two handled would become different.
It felt as if even the reason why Derrick had induced the duel to become a war of attrition fit into place all at once.
He had seen through the fact that Aiselin would soon even master 2-star magic.
If you endure, you win. There is no need to respond fairly and squarely to the opponent's attitude.
What if it is a little cowardly and petty? What if you use the opponent's upright personality against them?
Aiselin, who uses 2-star magic that she cannot even properly handle under the pretense of respecting the opponent, will soon reveal an opening.
Or, both sides' mana will run out, and everything will turn into a battle of willpower where the one who can scrape out even a little more mana wins.
And as for training of willpower, Ellente had done it to the point of being sick of it over the past few weeks. The willpower she had built up by somehow enduring Derrick's lashings was already on a different level from those greenhouse flowers.
Had that magic master, who had not even yet undergone a coming-of-age ceremony, already kept even this scenario in mind?
Ellente took a big step back and clicked her tongue.
In any case, she understood his thinking well. If things continued like this, it was not impossible to take the duel itself, regardless of 2-star magic or anything else.
–Whoosh! Clang!
–Whoosh!
After exchanging about ten more bouts like that, the duel was racing toward its extreme.
"Haah.... haah...."
Both sides' mana was completely exhausted. It was a time when there was still quite a while left before the bell announcing a draw would ring.
Ellente, who had flared up her mana flamboyantly from the start, also began to have her legs tremble. She had sprayed magic many times until her mana ran dry, but she never got used to this exhaustion.
On the other hand, even Aiselin's fingertips were trembling. She seemed to have never experienced using magic so recklessly before. It could not be helped. There was no teacher who would push the Young Lady of the Duplein Ducal House that hard.
That gap would decide everything.
In a situation approaching the absolute extreme, Ellente scraped together her depleted mana. She looked full of intent to grit her teeth and manifest another new magic.
"Ugh, huff.... huff...."
Aiselin also tried to scrape together her mana while breathing roughly, but for her, who was not used to this kind of situation, it was not easy.
She was somehow trying to draw up even a little more mana, but when she saw the amount of mana shimmering in Ellente's hand, she realized it instinctively.
She would block it with all her might, but the next strike.... or the one after that, would decide everything.
Even so, Young Lady Aiselin gritted her teeth. Defeat seemed to shimmer right before her eyes, but she still tried to resist with all her strength.
'... I did it! I drove her into a corner! I.... I drove Aiselin into a corner....!'
Even in her fading vision, Ellente clearly felt that surging sense of joy.
The fact that she had the upper hand against Aiselin, and the pleasure that everything was going according to Derrick's plan, seemed to dominate her mind.
In that situation where both sides were completely exhausted, it was the moment Ellente was converting her mana to finish things.
The moment she saw the eyes full of Aiselin's will, Ellente felt as if cold water had been poured over her head.
"..."
If this war of attrition continued as it was, the scale of victory would surely tilt toward Ellente. One could say that although Aiselin's magic level was high, she lacked experience in proper mana distribution.... and then declare victory for Young Lady Aiselin and leave with a smile. It was not hard to imagine such a future.
How long had she dreamed of such a refreshing victory?
But a silence hung over the audience.
From far in the observer seats, she met the eyes of Derrick, who had been leaning against the wall watching the duel.
A completely exhausted Young Lady Aiselin, and Young Lady Ellente, who could still exert more strength if she gritted her teeth.
As if he had expected this situation from the beginning, that boy was watching calmly with a completely unconcerned expression, his two eerily red eyes.
The moment those eyes came and stabbed into Ellente, she felt as if a knife had been driven into her heart.
'...'
A brief lull.
The flashy exchange of magic had stopped, and both young ladies were catching their breath.
Ellente could not help but quietly ask herself. Why had she tried so hard to beat Aiselin? The answer was clear.
Because she felt that the appearance of herself, alone envying and being jealous of an idol everyone admired, was so ugly. Because she wanted to beat Young Lady Aiselin in something and escape from this sense of inferiority.
But now, she was no longer sure. Even if she won against Young Lady Aiselin by dragging things into a war of attrition like this, would she really stop feeling jealousy toward that living idol?
Could she escape from this nasty inferiority complex that had been gnawing at her chest for so many years?
Even while being driven into a corner and gasping for breath, Young Lady Aiselin looked noble and radiant. Her eyes were also shining brilliantly, as if she would easily overcome any trial.
There was even a kind of sacredness clinging to that appearance.
– "Then let's win."
'...'
Even while declaring "Then let's win," Derrick did not show a refreshed attitude.
Only then did Ellente understand everything. She had thought she had completely understood all of Derrick's intentions, but even that was arrogance.
What Derrick wanted to teach Ellente was not how to win this duel, nor how to drive Aiselin into a corner, nor how to escape from that nasty inferiority complex.
Only now, in this situation, did Ellente finally realize it. She had been fighting a battle she could not win.
Though she was considered a pillar of the Belmiard family and was learning all kinds of practical affairs, her mind was still just that of a girl her age.
There were things that could never be realized with immature life experience. Namely, that humans are creatures that live with jealousy until they die.
That boiling envy and jealousy in her chest, which she had so despised and tried to restrain, were like a part of her body and could not be torn away no matter what she did. Because she was human.
As people living in a hard world usually do, there was no answer other than to live while carrying it in one's own way.
If you struggle with all your might to tear away that shabby emotion and throw punches at the air again and again, anyone will eventually realize it.
That was why Derrick had helped Ellente with all his heart and strength.
Even though they were similar in age, there were times when that boy Derrick felt as if he had lived dozens of years longer than Ellente.
He had already known.
The very attempt to restrain such feelings was a battle Ellente could not win.
When her thoughts reached that point, Ellente could finally turn her gaze to her surroundings.
The audience was watching the duel with sweaty hands. The place their admiring gazes were directed to was, without exception, Young Lady Aiselin.
It could not be helped.
With her noble appearance captivating everyone, and her kind character embracing all, she had even manifested 2-star magic here. Anyone could see that the protagonist of this place was her.
Beneath a large light source, a cool shadow is always formed. Ellente, who had lived her whole life in that shadow, felt as if she had finally realized something she had never understood throughout her life.
"..."
Thus, in the silence, Ellente gently closed and opened her eyes.... and then smiled a noble smile. It was an extremely captivating and beautiful smile.
Young Lady Aiselin, seeing that appearance, widened her eyes in surprise.
"As expected, I can't match Young Lady Aiselin. My mana has completely run dry."
Aiselin, who had been watching her opponent more closely than anyone else, could sense it clearly.
If she scraped out the very bottom of the bottom, she could still fight a little more. If things went into a war of attrition like this, the one who would lose was herself.
Even so, Young Lady Ellente lifted her skirt hem and offered a polite bow with a smile more full of dignity than ever.
"This is my defeat. It was a good duel."
–Clap clap clap clap clap clap!!!
Soon, thunderous standing applause poured out, enough to sweep away the hall.
Respect for Young Lady Aiselin filled the hall.
*
"Young Lady Aiselin! That was truly amazing! 2-star magic!"
"It's already said that just Young Master Valerian has brought light to the Duplein Ducal House, and now even Young Lady Aiselin....! If Duke Beltus hears the news, he will be very pleased!"
"I am Bellia of the Redon family! I have always admired you....! This duel.... it was so moving....!"
As soon as the duel ended, countless people, along with Aiselin's followers, crowded around her praising her.
Through the crowd, far in the corner of the duel arena, Ellente could be seen tidying her skirt hem.
Before Aiselin could even catch her breath and call out to her, she quickly gathered her skirt and went straight down off the platform.
"Elle....!"
Before Aiselin could stop her, she disappeared in a flash beyond the corridor door. Watching her from afar, she was bowing her head and roughly rubbing at her eyes.
Derrick, who had been leaning against the wall in the corner of the observer seats, quietly stood up and quickly followed after her.
Even so, Derrick turned back and gave a polite bow toward Young Lady Aiselin.
Mixed in among the many people praising her, Aiselin could only stare blankly at the scene.
No matter what anyone said, Derrick right now was on Ellente's side.