Three days had passed since the news of the was announced to the entire student body. The Summoning Departnt, ambitiously aiming for the departnt championship, was conducting both morning and evening training sessions.
This morning was no different. The students ca out of the dormitory in the early morning breeze. After changing into their gym clothes, they finished a simple stretching routine and a group run, then began their individual training.
"Ready?" Lorraine asked, standing up after a light leg stretch.
"Anyti," Simon replied with a nod from a short distance away.
They even had a small audience. Toto and Eshe, sitting side by side on a rock, clapped and cheered for each of them.
"Go, Simon!"
"You have to win! Lorraine!"
With a sharp exhale, Lorraine spread her legs shoulder-width apart. Drawing up her Jet-black, she thrust both arms forward forcefully. The bones scattered on the grass floated up and flew toward Simon.
It was ’Bone Needle,’ the most basic of the skeleton restoration techniques.
In response, Simon simply flicked his finger from where he stood.
With a series of sharp cracks, bones appeared so quickly it was impossible to tell where they ca from, accurately striking Lorraine’s bones and knocking them down. Next, Simon raised his fingertips, overlapped his other hand, and brought it down, causing more bones to descend from above her head.
’Fast!’ Lorraine thought.
Lorraine stopped her attack and threw herself to the side. Bones slamd into the ground one after another wherever she ran.
With a ’whoosh’, she leaped into the air, her ebony-black hair flying, and swung her arm. A subspace opened, and bones shot out from within like lightning.
In mid-air, they connected with each other, transforming into the shape of a spear with added power and penetration.
Simon, watching calmly, lowered his arm.
The bones waiting above ford into the shape of a prison, enclosing Simon within it. Almost simultaneously, the incoming Bone Spears struck the bars and ricocheted off.
A look of surprise flashed across Lorraine’s face. ’Using Bone Prison, a restraint skill, for defense?’
Simon imdiately kicked off the grass and dashed forward. The mont his body touched the bone bars, they crumbled with incredible smoothness and reford into a suit of armor that fit his body perfectly.
Toto and Eshe, who were watching, let out gasps of admiration.
"Bone Prison turned into Bone Armor!"
"Whoa! That gives goosebumps! What is that mastery of bone magic?"
Lorraine once again floated the remaining bones and launched a ’Bone Needle.’ In response, Simon also moved the bones that made up his Bone Armor. Several parts of the armor clattered off, then shot out one by one, intercepting the opponent’s projectiles.
’That’s Simon for you,’ Lorraine thought, unable to help but be impressed.
With a swift motion, Simon sent his arm backward. The bones that had fallen powerlessly to the ground found their places and assembled themselves into the form of a ’Bone Spear’.
On Simon’s signal as he thrust his arm forward again, five spears shot out with a sound that tore through the air.
"Hup!"
Lorraine hastily cast a black magic spell. She couldn’t intercept them precisely like Simon, but she attached the bones she had floated to the bodies of the incoming Bone Spears and then exerted a gravitational pull, twisting their direction.
’And from the front!’
Simon was charging at her, clad in Bone Armor. Just as she was about to assu a combat magic stance.
Simon forcibly twisted his direction and retreated. Instead, the Bone Armor, which had been fitted to his body, separated from him and continued forward. The Bone Armor was now worn by Lorraine.
’Ah!’
Skidding to a halt, Simon, who had retreated while scraping the dirt with his shoes, gestured with his hand.
’Clank!’
The Bone Armor tightened to fit her form, then in an instant, it twisted and bound her wrists behind her back and firmly shackled her legs.
’Huh?!’
When Simon raised his arm, her body, bound by the bones, floated into the air.
’Finishing blow.’
His two hands moved dazzlingly, like a conductor’s.
All the remaining bone fragnts, aside from those binding Lorraine, pointed their sharp ends at her. As he watched the countless bones fly toward her, Simon turned his back.
At that mont.
A deep hum filled the air as Jet-black flickered in Lorraine’s eyes.
She strained her arms and legs as if to shake it off. A massive wave of Jet-black erupted from her, not only shattering the Bone Chain binding her but also repelling all the incoming bones.
The bones that had been flying toward her were flung back with several tis their original force, either embedding themselves in the field or flying off into the forest.
A brief silence descended. Lorraine, having landed on the ground, touched her hair in embarrassnt. "Sorry, Simon. We were supposed to fight using only skeleton techniques, but I did it without thinking... It’s my loss."
Simon smiled faintly. "Your restoration skills have really improved."
It was the third day of training. On the first day of individual training, when Lorraine had asked Simon to teach her ’restoration techniques,’ it had taken her quite so ti just to assemble a single Bone Spear. But she had already improved this much.
While she might seem sowhat average when it cos to theory or studying, her unbelievable talent and skill left no doubt that she was Nephthys’s daughter.
’But...’
It felt like she was wearing ill-fitting clothes.
It was like a giant picking up a needle ant for humans and struggling to learn how to knit. Lorraine’s Jet-black was beyond just ’a lot.’ It was as vast as the sea. She certainly had the largest amount of Jet-black among their year, and perhaps the most in all of Kizen.
’For soone like Lorraine, is there really a need to learn skills like Bone Spear or Bone Armor?’
Restoration techniques were a well-fitting suit for Simon, who enjoyed stylish and versatile combat, but they were ill-fitting clothes for Lorraine. It would be more powerful for her to simply convert her ridiculously vast amount of Jet-black with her Innate Ability, wrap it around her fists, and smash things.
’Still, there must be a reason why Lady Nephthys personally sealed Lorraine’s Innate Ability...’
Simon’s gaze briefly shifted to the choker necklace around Lorraine’s neck. The shackle that always bound her. She had returned to being like a normal student, learning the general knowledge of a necromancer from the ground up. Simon hoped that these studies would one day bear fruit.
"Are you two okay?" Toto and Eshe, who had been watching, ca running over.
Lorraine smiled and said, "I’m fine, thank you, Toto."
"O-Okay!" Toto stamred, still intimidated by her.
On the other hand, Eshe, who had no such reservations, grinned as she approached and nudged Simon’s arm. "Wow~ But Mr. President, you’re really ruthless. You went all out without holding back at all! You know the entire Dark Alliance would be in an uproar if Lorraine got even a scratch on her, right?"
"She was wearing a barrier over her gym clothes anyway..."
"Hey, is the barrier what’s important right now? This guy completely misses the point of the conversation."
Just then, a male student could be seen running from the distance, waving his hands and shouting, "Hey! Hey, you!" His distinctive, swaggering running posture was familiar.
"Simon!"
Simon’s eyes widened at the unexpected appearance. "Dick?"
"Hahaha!" Dick laughed cheerfully as he ca over and slung an arm around Simon’s neck.
"What brings you all the way out here?" Simon asked.
"Does distance matter when I’m coming to see my bestie?!"
Simon let out a small laugh. "Student council business, right?"
"Hehe, actually, an official notice just ca down. This afternoon..."
As Dick muttered on, his eyes darting around, he happened to make eye contact with Eshe, who was watching with a displeased expression.
"Hey, you! Stop right there!" Eshe strode forward. "I haven’t seen you around before. What departnt are you in?"
Dick shrugged. "Venomology."
"A spy from the Venomology Departnt, are you? You ca to scout us out?"
Dick waved his hands dismissively. "I’m the student council treasurer! You don’t know ? Guess no one recognizes without my armband. I’m here on business with the president."
"If you had business with the president, you would have sent one of the minions you boss around to talk to him!" Eshe suddenly cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. "There’s a spy from the Venomology Departnt here!"
’What?’ The complexions of the Summoning Departnt students who were training individually turned cold. They stopped their training here and there and began to flock over.
"Oh boy, I expected this would happen~" Dick chuckled and gave Simon a wave. "Let’s talk later at the student council room, Simon."
"Get him!" soone yelled.
Dick took a potion bottle from his subspace and dropped it on the ground.
With a soft ’poof’, a thick, hazy smoke covered the surroundings. Simon coughed and backed away, while the Summoning Departnt students even brought out their summons to try and find Dick.
But after the smoke cleared, Dick had vanished without a trace.
"We lost him!"
"Those Venomology Departnt bastards, they already knew we were training!"
While the students fud, Simon smiled bitterly from the back. ’He’s picked up so weird skills since joining the Venomology Departnt.’
---
It turned out Eshe wasn’t being paranoid. At Kizen, after the Dark Festival was announced and until it ended, there was a special tradition.
"Commanding Departnt, what have you been staring at?"
"You’re the one who was staring. Are the Combat Magic bastards’ brains and eyes made of muscle too?"
"What, you punk? Want to put you in a permanent spirit state?"
The tension between departnts would escalate. This, too, was a kind of school culture. During this period, there was an unwritten rule that students should only hang out with those from their own departnt, and treat students from other departnts as ’enemies’. It was a sort of ga ant to boost departnt unity and amplify Kizen’s core value of competitiveness before the main Dark Festival began.
The problem was, there were always people who got way too invested in sothing that was just for fun.
"Hey, hey, hey! Let go of !"
"Bring it on, huh? You scared?"
A commotion broke out in the school cafeteria.
"The Combat Magic and Commanding Departnts are going at it!"
"Ooh!"
Simon, who was sitting and eating, let out a deep sigh. He just wanted to eat in peace, but Jet-black was flaring up left and right.
Even Simon’s own Summoning Departnt had already gotten into a squabble.
"Summoning Departnt beggars! You even have money to buy food at the cafeteria?"
"Summoning Departnt? More like the ’Preparing to Transfer Departnts’ Departnt!"
"Puhahahaha!"
He could understand, just a little, why people got so invested.
"You pseudo-magician bastards!" a Summoning student roared.
Hearing that, the other Summoning Departnt students also flew into a rage and stood up. This ti, the Summoning and Jet-black Dynamics Departnts were at a standoff. The Summoning students took out undead from their subspaces, and the Jet-black Dynamics students created Jet-black elental magic in their hands.
Just as a fight was about to break out.
"Disperse them, please," Simon said calmly, taking a communication crystal from his pocket.
The crystal beeped.
Imdiately, whistles blew throughout the cafeteria, and Mojo and the other student council minions poured in.
"Alright, that’s enough! Stop it!"
"Students, separate! Separate!"
"Ah, let go! That bastard started it...!"
"Just you wait until the Dark Festival. Huh? I’ve got my eye on you."
As the minions pulled them apart, the students reluctantly backed down. The surroundings beca quiet again, and Simon could finally focus on his al. Eshe, who had placed her tray down next to him, giggled.
"Mr. President, that was kinda cool just now."
"What was?"
Eshe mid lifting a spoon to her mouth. "Disperse them, please.’ And with that one line, the minions all sward in! Wow~ So this is power!"
Just as Simon was about to reply, irin ca running over, her long, light-blue hair flying. "Simon!"
A look of welco spread across Simon’s face. "Ah, irin!"
"Hi! This afternoon in the student council room...!"
Just then, other Jet-black Dynamics students grabbed both of irin’s arms.
"Vice President! Are you talking to the Summoning Departnt guys right now?"
"Let’s go!"
And then they started dragging irin away.
"Hey, you crazy bastards! This is just about student council business... Let go!" irin struggled, kicking her legs, but it was no use. Having no choice, she shouted at Simon, "See you at the student council room later!"
"Alright!" Simon waved with a bitter smile.
Eshe, excited, jumped up on her chair and taunted them. "Kyahaha! Look at them run! You pseudo-magician bastards! First place this year belongs to our Summoning Departnt!"
Simon let out a dry laugh. ’Is this a scene of mass hysteria or what?’
---
In truth, it wasn’t just the students who were fired up about this ’Dark Festival.’ Jane was nagging her students, expecting ’obvious’ results, and Professor Hongfeng had silently tripled their physical training ti.
And.
"Welco," Bahil said as the Curse Departnt students filed into his lab one by one.
"I trust you all know what I’m about to say." His eyes narrowed.
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