"Wow, how brutal." Milena clicked her tongue, having dodged irin’s attack by a hair’s breadth. An entire section of the castle wall was now a frozen wasteland. She shook the fine ice crystals from her arms and turned her attention to irin. "A pleasure to et you."
It was proper etiquette to show respect to the strong. Milena lightly grasped the hem of her uniform skirt and curtsied.
"I’m Milena Hartz of Class G."
"irin Villenne. Class A," irin retorted, already forming a new magic circle above her palm.
"Wait, irin!" Dick, still immobilized by Milena’s curse, shouted from behind them. "Be careful! That girl is a—’Uwaak!"
A spike of ice shot up from the ground, lifting Dick into the air. He slipped, falling onto a newly ford ice ramp and sliding away down the castle wall.
"You’re in the way, so get lost, commoner," irin said dismissively.
"No! Just listen to —! ’Uwaaaah!" Dick’s voice faded as the ice slide carried him away at an incredible speed.
Milena pouted. "I was planning to finish him off quietly. What a sha. Still," she added, her gaze shifting back from the distant speck that was Dick, "it’s much better to take down a big na than so nobody, right?"
"Hilarious," irin sneered.
Milena just smiled back.
There was no starting signal in a battle between necromancers. A spear of glacial ice shot from irin’s palm, but Milena dodged it with a simple sidestep.
’Her physical abilities are outstanding. On par with a Combat Magic aspirant,’ irin noted, instantly finishing her assessnt.
Now it was Milena’s turn. She waved her hands, and bricks torn from the castle wall floated up and hurtled toward irin.
"Petty tricks." irin swung her arm with disdain.
Her power was on a different level. A massive wave of ice erupted from her palm, swallowing the flying bricks whole before crashing down on Milena. Yet once again, Milena dodged it effortlessly, simply shifting to the side.
’So you’re just going to keep dodging, is that it?’
irin swiftly prepared her next move, stepping onto a magic circle on the floor. ’This works like a charm on Combat Magic types.’
’Ice Field.’
A slick sheet of ice spread out in a wide circle around her. Milena, who had been standing still, staggered for a mont.
"Amazing! Ice that lowers the coefficient of friction this much? Is there a curse formula mixed in?"
Ignoring the question, irin raised her arms. The ice all around them lifted into the air. As she brought her arms down, countless razor-sharp shards rained down on Milena. Scrambling to escape, Milena staggered again, finally slipping on the treacherous ice and landing hard on her butt with a small, "Eek!" The ice shards fell upon her.
’Thwack-thwack-thwack!’
Watching a mountain of ice pile up around Milena, irin allowed herself a satisfied smile. Block her escape with an ice field, then finish her off with the prepared ice. It was a perfect victory.
"Whoa."
Just as she turned to leave, a cold dread washed over her, and she spun back around.
"Impressive."
The ice shards were piled up like a mountain around the still-seated Milena. As if they had intentionally avoided her, not a single piece had touched her. irin’s expression hardened. ’What was that? Did I miscalculate?’
Milena rose to her feet with a dark smile, jet-black flaring around her feet as she charged.
"Tch!" irin grunted, startled by her speed. She threw up an ice wall in front of herself.
"Hoi!" Milena shouted bizarrely, launching herself into the air with a formidable leap that carried her right over the wall.
"Are you an idiot?" irin snapped, retreating as she fired a spear of ice at the airborne Milena.
But Milena, holding her skirt in a cute, mid-air pose, just smirked. "You’re the idiot."
The precisely aid spear flew past her, missing by a hair’s breadth. irin’s eyes widened in shock. ’No, what in the world was that!’
’Tap.’
Milena landed gracefully and charged again, her eyes glinting. As she ran, she swung her left hand, and the ice she’d scooped up earlier transford into a spray of shurikens.
"How dare she use my ice!" irin seethed.
"Heehee."
Milena rushed her from the front while the ice shurikens arced through the air, closing in from all sides. There was no room to evade. Erecting walls in every direction would take too long.
"My victory," Milena sang, the curse circle in her right hand aid straight for irin’s face.
But at the last possible second, irin vanished.
"Ah!"
She now stood atop a massive ice pillar that had erupted from the ground. Milena’s hand struck empty air as the shurikens harmlessly embedded themselves in the pillar. She hadn’t dodged left or right—she’d gone up. Looking down at Milena, irin irritably lifted her leg.
"Jeez!"
She stomped on the pillar. It shattered with a deafening roar, and the icy debris rained down on Milena.
"Go down!"
’Thump!’
Of course, this ti was no different.
"You know," Milena’s voice drifted up from the rubble, "I’ve been in the top squads for a while, but you’re the first opponent I’ve t who’s as strong as you, irin!"
Out of the massive amount of ice, not a single piece had hit her.
irin leaped down from the pillar, landing hard and panting as she glared at her opponent. ’It’s my first ti fighting a necromancer whose main skill is psychokinesis, but still!’
From her perspective, the situation couldn’t be more frustrating. Milena was simply twisting the trajectory of her projectiles. She wasn’t powerful enough to seize control of irin’s magic, which was imbued with force and mass, but by slightly altering the path of anything that ca near her, she was effectively immune to long-range attacks. On top of that, this girl was not only skilled in psychokinesis—a Jet-Black Dynamics field—but also in Combat Magic and Curses. Why wasn’t a monster who could use three subjects at a major’s level a special admission student?
"Here I co!" Milena shouted, waving her arms wildly as she charged again.
irin knew it was futile, but she had no choice but to keep firing ice to slow her down. Her jet-black reserves were dwindling fast.
---
"Ugh, I’m gonna die," Dick groaned, panting for breath as soldiers supported him on either side.
"A-Are you alright? Squeak!" one of them asked.
"Yeah, my body just feels ridiculously heavy."
They were heading toward the site of irin and Milena’s battle. As the fierce sounds of shattering ice grew closer, the soldiers’ expressions darkened.
"Squeak! Squeak! You’re injured. Isn’t it dangerous to go further?"
"There’s information I have to deliver right now."
Within Team 7, Dick and irin, who clashed over everything, had completely opposite fighting styles as well as personalities. Dick’s thod was to use his unique information network and analytical skills to exploit an opponent’s weaknesses. irin, in contrast, was a lone wolf who valued only her own strength. While she would use intel if she had it, her core belief was that if she was strong enough, no other preparation was necessary.
But Dick knew that if irin believed Milena was using psychokinesis, she had no chance of winning.
’Against a psychokinesis user, irin would never use Jet-Black Fla magic,’ he thought. Flas were far easier to disperse with psychokinesis than ice, and their color and heat made them easy to track. A careless fire spell could be turned back on the caster. It was a hard counter. The most effective elents against a psychokinesis user were subtle wind attacks or earth magic that erupted from the ground, but irin was still a novice in both. She would just keep firing ice until her jet-black ran out, and then she would lose.
But Dick knew the truth. Milena wasn’t using psychokinesis. She didn’t know the first thing about it; her Jet-Black Dynamics grades were terrible. The only subjects she excelled at were Combat Magic and Curses.
"Please don’t be too late... huh?"
The two girls had moved their fight from the castle wall to the residential area between the outer and inner defenses. They were now exchanging black magic while leaping across rooftops.
"Ah, I’m screwed." Dick’s face fell as he watched them disappear into the distance. The damned three-stack ’Exhaust’ showed no signs of wearing off. The curse’s formula must have been twisted, because his shoddy ’Cancellation’ couldn’t dispel it. This was exactly why he hated Cursology majors.
’What should I do?’ he wondered anxiously, then his eyes lit up. "Ah!"
"Adjutant!" he called out. "Go to Simon—no, the Commander-in-Chief! Relay my ssage, as fast as you can!"
"What should I tell him? Squeak!"
---
irin landed on the roof of a shabby wooden house, panting for breath. Across from her, Milena landed gracefully on another roof, a leisurely smile on her face.
"You’re at your limit, aren’t you?" Milena taunted. "How should I finish you off?"
"You little...!!" irin shot back, launching a series of ice awls from her palm.
"Predictable." Milena dodged them with ease, only bothering to alter the trajectory of the few that ca too close. Still, she was only human, and occasionally a shard of ice would graze her. Ironically, irin, who valued only her own strength, was now clinging to the hope of her opponent making a mistake.
’This is humiliating!’ she thought, clenching her fists. Psychokinesis and Combat Magic! The matchup was just too perfect. If her opponent had been a pure psychokinesis user, she was confident she could have overwheld them with sheer mass.
"Well then, shall we wrap this up?" Milena said, preparing to leap from the roof and charge.
An arrow cut through the air with a sharp whistle.
"Oh my god!"
Thrown off balance, Milena ducked just in ti. A pitch-black arrow flew past her and embedded itself in a nearby wall. The force of its passage knocked her from the roof, and she tumbled to the ground below.
"Oww! What was that all of a sudden?" she yelled in frustration, but irin wasn’t listening.
’An arrow?’
irin’s head snapped toward the castle gate. Simon, who should have been defending it, stood in a picturesque pose, bow in hand. He was too far away to see his face clearly, but after a mont, he turned back to the wall and resud commanding his Skeleton Mages.
’Simon’s clothes!’
Tied to the arrow was a piece of Simon’s uniform and a small note. irin quickly unfolded it and read the contents.
She instantly understood why he’d sent an arrow instead of using the communication channel. She quickly schooled her features into a neutral expression. Just as she tucked the note away, the roof beneath Milena exploded, and she shot upward.
"Let’s ignore the intruder and get back to it!" Milena shouted, charging.
irin leaped from the roof into a narrow, empty alley below. Milena was naturally faster, and irin deliberately let her close the distance. Just as Milena spread a curse on her palm, preparing to strike...
’Dark Blaze.’
For the first ti in their fight, a torrent of jet-black fla shot from irin’s palm.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
Milena, who had seed untouchable, was struck head-on by the simple attack. She shrieked, rolling on the ground as the flas consud her. It was ironic that the girl who hadn’t allowed a single clean hit was now engulfed by a basic blast of fire.
"That’s strange," irin said, approaching with steady steps. "If you’re a psychokinesis user, shouldn’t you be able to reverse the flas and burn instead?"
"I-It was a mistake," Milena gasped, managing to create a fire-suppression curse to extinguish the flas. She staggered to her feet, forcing a smile. "A mistake like that won’t happen a second ti—!"
’Dark Wisp.’
A small ball of fire bounced from irin’s hand.
’Boom! Kaboom!’
"Kuh!"
The girl who had just promised not to make another mistake began to frantically dodge the attack. She was even struck by a few fireballs on the shoulder, sending her sprawling to the ground.
"Don’t you think it’s absurd?" irin asked, a triumphant smile spreading across her face. "Why can a psychokinesis user control ice, but not the direction of flas?" Her voice dropped to a low growl. "You dare to play gas with ?"
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