I looked down at the terrified eyes and muttered.
"Perfect for those born from dust and returning to dust, right? Let's try eating some dirt and see if you can find your humanity."
"Guh, ugh...!"
"Might even be good for your core. At least better than a rat. Don't you think?"
He thrashed, kicking at my clothes. At the same time, a flash of light flickered in the corner of my vision.
*Thud!*
I raised my arm and blocked the spell. The dirt I'd been holding scattered into the air.
A student with a dumbfounded face pointed his wand and shouted.
"You... you could use magic!"
"You saw wrong."
I shrugged as I answered. He stared at me, speechless, as if I'd said something utterly ridiculous.
"You...!"
Taking advantage of my distraction with the other guy, the student whose collar I was holding swung his wand.
*Thud!*
I immediately wrapped a barrier around myself and reflected the spell. After training with Leo, attacks fueled by emotion didn't even look like attacks anymore. Perhaps hit by his own magic, the student clutched his eyes and collapsed to the floor.
"Argh! Hey, do something about this bastard!"
"I'm trying!"
A student from somewhere yelled back.
I deflected the attack and looked around, moving the animal that had fallen to the floor to a safe corner.
For all their talk of 'trying,' the attacks were incredibly easy to block, confirming that my divine power was indeed effective against them.
At the same moment, a student swallowing hard kept pouring attacks onto Lucas's barrier.
'Not getting through at all.'
His hand gripping the wand grew sweaty.
He couldn't comprehend what was happening. Three people were attacking simultaneously, yet the barrier showed no sign of breaking. Attacks that went outside the defensive range were also nullified as Lucas fired spells of similar power to cancel them out.
*Bang!*
The student was pushed back by Lucas's counterattack.
The fact that Lucas was using magic at all felt so unreal that he even forgot his pain.
'Well, of course he can use magic.'
That elementary-level magic he'd seen in class was something anyone born into a family with even a single title could use. It was no exaggeration to say 99 out of 100 people couldn't progress beyond that, so he naturally assumed this guy was one of them.
But...
'To think he could use it this flawlessly.'
The Ascaniens were a family counted among the Empire's top in terms of magical power alone, so it was possible for them.
But not that guy. That's why he entered this place through an unprecedented donation-based admission in the school's history.
'Don't tell me he really drank blood to gain magic power...'
No matter how much of a Pleroma he was, when he couldn't use magic, he was just pitiful and creepy.
In some ways, I even suspected he was just pretending to be a Pleroma as a means of self-defense.
Because being an object of fear might be better than having your existence ignored.
But the current situation shattered all those assumptions.
The student stared at Lucas's face through the flashes of light surging from all sides.
Unlike his friends who were charging in with gritted teeth, Lucas merely narrowed his eyes as if displeased with the situation and flicked his wrist.
*Whoosh!*
Lucas dispersed the barrier fragments scattering near his cheek into the air. Even while reinforcing the barrier, the shock from three consecutive spells was transmitted fully.
'Even with their lousy skills, three at once is a bit much.'
No point dragging it out. Time to wrap this up.
Lucas swept his wand diagonally, pushing two students back, then gave a slight horizontal flick of his wand toward the remaining one.
"Huh?"
Before he could even grasp the situation, the student's balance wavered. When he opened his eyes again, damp soil occupied half his vision, and the hand holding his wand was caught in Lucas's binding spell.
"...!"
"Don't take it so easily. You should be able to deflect this much."
Lucas sneered at the student who lost his balance and fell to the floor. The student snarled.
"Hey, do the same to this bastard!"
"In a situation like this, removing the binding spell should be the priority first..."
As the student made a face of realization and prepared to snarl again, Lucas gave a hollow laugh and kicked him. Then he immediately turned, blocking an attack rushing from behind.
'Now I see why they're so obsessed with hierarchy.'
Because they're hollow inside.
The fact that he, who hadn't exercised in ten years and had only learned magic for two weeks, was holding them off meant these guys were hopeless. No matter the difference in magical power.
Lucas deflected the attacks of the remaining two and strode toward them. The two students faltered and shouted.
"Isn't this guy completely insane?! Huh?"
Without a word, Lucas kicked one in the shoulder, knocking him over and flipping him. The attack from the side was easily handled just by pressing down with magic.
The flipped student turned his head and shouted urgently.
"Hey, hey! Have a heart! This is going too far..."
"Have a heart?"
"Argh!"
Lucas twisted and grabbed his arm.
"When were you thinking of 'having a heart' while slamming me into the wall?"
"I... I didn't do it! He did it all!"
The student gestured indignantly toward the student clutching his eyes in the distance.
'...Pathetic...'
As if it wasn't worth answering, Lucas slammed a spell into him and dealt with the last remaining student.
Perhaps having seen the other guy get hit more for saying something unnecessary right beside him, this one didn't say anything.
Lucas finished with the two students and stood up.
"Phew..."
He had blocked all movements of the troublesome students. Lucas approached the student who had tried to force-feed me the rat earlier.
The student was gripping his wand tightly with one hand and pressing his eye with the other.
"Give me the wand."
"N-no... Argh!"
He stepped on the guy's wrist and pulled out the wand. The guy clutched his wrist, face down, groaning.
Lucas examined the wand and spoke.
"Nice one you've got."
"What..."
"Well, if you have no skill, you have to slather on money to stick around here."
Perhaps finding it absurd for a donation-based admit to say such a thing, the student stared blankly at Lucas before snapping back to his senses and shouting.
"You bastard, give it back?! I'll report you for theft!"
"That's what you're worried about?"
Lucas smiled, kneeling on one knee beside him.
"Was it fun?"
"W-what..."
"Ah, never mind. What am I asking. Experience is faster than listening."
Lucas grabbed a handful of dirt again. Then he seized the guy's shirt collar and pulled him forward.
"Eat it."
"..."
The students sprawled around watched the situation, frozen stiff. The student whose collar was grabbed also had a dazed face.
Since the guy just stared without taking any action, strength entered Lucas's hand.
"I had fun using magic thanks to you guys. At least give me a chance to return the favor."
"...How am I supposed to eat this?! Say something that makes sense."
"Does a rat make sense?"
"..."
"Whatever. It's more realistic than being told to eat a live rat, at least."
Lucas glanced at the unidentified animal lying in the distance and pushed the dirt forward.
"Going to make me say more?"
The guy trembled and grabbed Lucas's arm.
"Hey, hey. Let's not do this..."
"Let's?"
"I won't bother you anymore... let's stop, okay?"
"No."
*Thud!*
Lucas mimicked the student's earlier answer and slammed him into the floor.
"Huk, keuk..."
"I have a lot to say, but honestly, I don't know what would be solved by saying them now. Just know one thing."
Lucas grabbed the student's collar again and lifted him up.
"If you don't do as I say, I'll report everything that happened today. My magic will just count as self-defense, and the school, worried this will reach my father's ears, will expel you."
"..."
"Do I need to say more?"
"Hey, just close your eyes and do it, even if it's disgusting! Damn it, we can report that bastard later too!"
A student from far away shouted angrily.
Only then did the guy snap to his senses and start thinking.
'...I obviously didn't consider it going as far as a report.'
I thought he'd just bow his head and take it no matter what, like last year. I didn't know he'd change this much, like a different person.
If this guy reports the incident, it could really lead to expulsion. And if that happens, he wouldn't be able to properly inherit a title either.
A chill ran down his spine.
What did he enroll in this school for?
Expulsion was the one thing that couldn't happen.
'...There's no evidence, maybe just flat-out deny it?'
No good.
The student's eyes turned to the other students around.
If even one of them turned traitor, it was over. They might spill everything in exchange for avoiding expulsion.
'Or should I do that first?'
Another problem.
There was no guarantee such terms would be 100% accepted, so if I tried to negotiate first, I might just be digging my own grave.
Honestly... what he's demanding is extremely unreasonable, so this would probably go beyond self-defense.
As for us, well, we brought it to his mouth, but he didn't swallow it, and if we just say it was a prank, we might get off.
'If we play it right, we might even be able to flip it on him?'
And, though I hate to admit it, besides just closing my eyes and going along with it once, I couldn't see any way out of this situation. He'd definitely use magic.
Lucas observed the student's expression and tilted his head.
"Thinking really hard. Want to eat it yourself before I pour it into your mouth?"
The corner of Lucas's mouth twisted up.
Seeing the ominous smile, the student, with a deeply reluctant face, slowly brought his head toward Lucas's hand.
His friends around sighed and frowned.
"Ugh..."
"Ah, damn, I could never do that..."
'When it's time to just do as you're told!'
Even though I was the one who carried it all out, making me take the fall alone was too much.
Once just this moment passes, I'll have to deal with Lucas first and then beat up those bastards one by one.
The student gritted his teeth and touched his tongue to it.
Watching this, Lucas wrinkled his brow and laughed.
"No way... you're really eating it because I told you to."
"...!"
"Spit it out. It's too disgusting to watch."
As the guy looked at Lucas with a face that hadn't fully processed the situation, Lucas narrowed his eyes as if he didn't even want to imagine it and asked.
"You didn't swallow it, did you? I don't think I saw your throat move yet."
"You... you just said to eat..."
"Of course it was a joke. How could anyone eat that, 'humanely'? I feel like everything I ate today is coming up... You're not normal either."
Lucas chuckled, then raised an eyebrow at the guy's dumbfounded expression.
"Was it tasty? Now that you've tried it, tell me in detail what it tasted like."
"You bastard...!"
The student threw a punch. Too excited to aim properly, it was an attack easy enough to dodge, but Lucas merely frowned slightly.
*Smack!*
"Ugh..."
This guy should have thrown a punch from the start.
This is more certain than that useless magic.
Lucas frowned and touched the corner of his eye.
The skin stung as if cut by a blade, a hot warmth rising, then instantly cooling as if an ice pack had been applied.
The pain felt like the skin should be torn, but unfortunately, flesh doesn't tear that easily, so expecting that much was difficult.
'Still, this should leave a bruise.'
Whether it was a bad hit or he was just that strong, his head rang intensely.
'This is dangerous.'
No, but it probably wasn't a completely direct hit. If it had been a direct hit in this position, the bone would have already broken.
As Lucas tightly closed his eyes against the spinning, drunken-like vision, the guy grabbed Lucas's collar and pulled his arm back tautly.
Then a student shouted urgently.
"Hey! Don't hit him!"
At that shout, the student hesitated.
Only then did Lucas's expression begin to register.
"Why stop? Do more. Hit me until your anger is gone."
Lucas burst out laughing, eyes wide open.
Being told to hit more reminded him of what Leo said the day he first properly used magic, making him keep laughing.
The student let go of the collar and faltered, stepping back.
'Why, why is he laughing?'
His friend's urgent words, 'Don't hit him,' replayed.
There must be a reason.
How many people in the world could get hit and still laugh? When we pushed this guy into the wall earlier, there wasn't a trace of a smile on his face, so why now...
'...Don't tell me.'
A sudden thought made the student's face turn pale.
From behind, another student mustered all his strength and shouted.
"That bastard is acting like this so he can play the victim later after getting hit!"
"It's not an act, it's real."
Lucas said, holding his still-ringing head.
"I never said the part about not reporting was a joke. If you come at me like this, I have no choice but to report, right?"
"Ah, no... Lucas, I..."
As the guy fidgeted and waved his hands, Lucas smiled and shook his head.
"I know. You must have misunderstood. You just couldn't control your temper and threw a punch first. Right?"
"...Wait, yes. Really, it was really a mistake. You know!"
"I know very well."
A light of hope rose on the student's face.
"Then...!"
"Thanks for making the mistake. It's good to have a visible piece of evidence or two."
The student's expression rotted beautifully.
Lucas gave an appropriate smile and tapped the guy's shoulder.
—-----------
T/N:
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