Kadenmeyer Delgart was currently in a rather good mood.

The reason was obvious. He could publicly humiliate Alon.

‘Heh, lucky he’s second-tier, at least.’

Delgart thought that as he watched Alon walking up onto the arena.

If Alon had been first-tier, Delgart would not have been able to call him up onto the arena.

Calling a mage one tier lower than himself onto the arena in a place like this could, by itself, earn him dishonor.

But Alon?

He had not shown any particular excellence in anything, but he was second-tier.

In other words, there was nothing wrong with Kadenmeyer Delgart, who was also second-tier, calling him out.

Of course, someone might scoff and ask how he could be so certain of victory when they were both second-tier, but Delgart was not predicting his own win without any thought.

Because only a few days ago, he had reached the third tier.

“Heh heh.......”

In truth, he was only at the level where he could barely construct and manifest a third-tier formula properly—in other words, he had just started walking—but there was a world of difference between being able to realize third-tier magic and not being able to.

In other words, a gap had now opened between Delgart and Alon.

Someone might not understand Delgart for going this far just to crush Alon.

Alon had done nothing to him, and even when Delgart picked fights with him, he had paid him no mind.

But the more Alon ignored him, the angrier Delgart became.

“Hoo—”

......In truth, laughably enough, Delgart was also aware of how irrational this anger was.

Even so, that did not make his irritation and hostility toward Alon disappear, so he looked around with a sneer, thinking he would use this chance to disgrace Alon.

“......?”

Then, when Delgart happened to cast his gaze upward, his expression turned blank for a moment.

‘......Why does it feel like they’re looking at me with such furious expressions?’

Strangely, the prince and princesses were looking at him.

Every single one of them with expressions that seemed oddly pissed off, shocked, or as though they were letting out a deep, sticky lament.

With faces that had I am going to kill you now written all over them.

‘......Me?’

Delgart thought that for an instant, but soon shook his head.

To begin with, he had never once met the prince or the princesses face-to-face.

In other words, there was no reason for such lofty people to look at him that way, so he turned his gaze away, and soon looked at the headmaster beside them.

The headmaster, who would normally be wearing an expression of recognition.

And yet.

“??”

The headmaster’s expression was strange as well.

He was looking at Delgart with a peculiar expression.

As if...... yes, as if he were looking at defective trash.

‘......???’

And just as Delgart’s confusion grew even deeper—

Alon, who had been called out by Delgart, was currently extremely troubled.

‘What should I do?’

Defeating Delgart?

It was not hard.

No matter how restricted his power was, Alon was not so weak that he could not defeat one rookie mage.

Even if he did not use words or hand seals and the power of his magic itself was restricted, Alon’s victory would not change.

He was not so frail that he would lose to a mage who had only just entered the beginning of the third tier.

However, the problem was that, at the present point, Alon’s magic was the second tier of a “student.”

If he fought well here and the Church of War watching from somewhere noticed anything, that would be troublesome. So after thinking it over, Alon quickly made his judgment.

‘I’ll have to lose.’

He would throw the match.

In truth, winning or losing this kind of fight did not matter much to him.

His goal was to successfully catch the Church of War, not to save face in a place like this.

So Alon let out a small sigh and took his stance.

Somewhat clumsily.

Like some nobody who had only sparred with magic a few times.

And then.

“Begin.”

When the magic instructor in the center simply lowered a hand and moved back, the first thing Alon did was—

Wooooong—

Merely raise his mana.

Since he was acting as a second-tier mage, if he realized magic quickly, that in itself would look unnatural.

And so.

‘......Once he fires magic, I’ll take one or two hits, get blown out of the arena, and retire.’

As Alon thought that and looked at Delgart, Delgart created magic in his hand with a triumphant smile.

And—

Bang—!

“Gaaah—!?”

The magic exploded.

It happened in an instant.

The students stared blankly at that.

At the same time, Delgart could be seen standing there in a daze, injured by his own magic.

And then.

“Ah, damn it—!”

Delgart’s face, which had been filled with confidence until a moment ago, flushed red in an instant.

Naturally, because there was no one here who did not know what had just happened to him.

Realization failure.

That was right.

It was not magic interference.

Not intrusion.

Not erosion.

It was simply something that happened from realizing magic incorrectly.

......A mistake even mages who knew how to use first-tier magic would never make.

“You bastard—!”

Because of that, Delgart, his face red, glared at Alon even more murderously.

With an expression as if all of this were Alon’s fault.

While Alon was thinking, No, what did I even do...... Delgart realized magic again, trying to make up for his mistake just now.

Bang—!

It exploded again.

Whoooosh—! Delgart flew through the air and crashed headfirst in front of Alon.

At that, the silence turned chilly.

“Alon, you son of a—”

Delgart was trying to get up now while openly cursing him.

However.

“Guhk—!?”

As Delgart tried to stand, his foot slipped on the arena floor—

“Uwek—!”

And he toppled over outside the arena in a ridiculous shape.

“......Winner, Taylor Alon.”

“.......”

Just like that, he lost by ring-out.

And.

‘I was trying to lose, though......?’

As Alon looked at Delgart, who seemed to have landed on his head and fainted where he lay, he had no choice but to feel bewildered.

####

......After the strange match ended.

As if Delgart bringing the students both laughter and a chill had been nothing, the matches that followed were decent enough to heat up the festival in their own way.

And so, unlike the atmosphere at the beginning, the opening ceremony ended successfully, and the festival began in earnest.

That was right. The beginning of the festival.

The students passing by Alon each had smiles on their faces, as though they were looking forward to it in their own way and intended to enjoy the moment, but Alon could not do the same.

Because he knew.

That the Church of War would appear at this festival.

‘......Of course, they’ll appear on the second day.’

Not all the nobles had gathered at the academy yet.

The day when most of the nobles in the Empire would gather was the second day.

In other words, from the Church of War’s position, since they needed to eliminate as many nobles as possible and increase their believers, Alon knew they would consider the second day the right time.

“Hmm—should we do something first?”

“How about having a little sense of caution?”

Alon asked while looking at Evan and Penia, who seemed relaxed.

“What about the others?”

“They’re moving according to plan.”

During this festival, they had decided to divide the time and keep watch over the social club building, so Alon nodded and looked at the sky, already turning red even though not much time had passed since the festival began.

“......? The sun is setting quickly.”

“It does feel like the festival itself started a little late, but it definitely feels like it’s getting darker earlier than usual.”

“I think so too.”

The moment Evan and Penia agreed—

Pop—!

Fireworks began.

“......Hm?”

At that, the gazes of the students, who had been moving to enjoy the festival until a moment ago, all turned in one direction.

“Fireworks—?”

“Already?”

“I’m pretty sure they said they’d do those on the third day?”

The students’ murmurs could be heard.

And as if mocking the thought that perhaps fireworks had gone off by mistake—

Pop—! Pop-pop—!

The fireworks, releasing dazzling five-colored light, continued to explode.

And the moment everyone felt puzzled by the fireworks show that had suddenly begun—

“!”

Alon realized something.

That what was exploding over there right now was fireworks, but not fireworks—

“Penia!”

Alon instinctively called Penia and removed his ring.

Airinna Polanticia was still letting out a sigh as she tried to settle the queasy feeling in her stomach.

The reason was because, at the beginning of the match earlier, she had been anxiously worried that some clueless brat might offend his mood.

“Hoo—”

She let out a sigh.

Her “eye,” which she possessed, and which had been strengthened by the ability the Seeker had given her after she created the sacred fortification formation, allowing her to see a little more, could see Alon’s true form.

A gigantic eye, large enough to cover even the sun in the sky.

A gigantic eye that simply stared straight at her.

“.......”

Remembering it, Airinna let out a deep sigh and erased the thought from her mind.

Because simply recalling that true form made her feel as if her entire body were freezing over.

‘......I heard it from Contanias, but I didn’t think it would really be—’

Of course, she had known from before that Alon was not an ordinary person.

But his true form was already enough to leave her unable to close her mouth, even though she had heard the story beforehand.

‘What on earth is he—?’

Around the time Airinna unknowingly thought that—

Pop— pop-pop—!

Fireworks exploded.

“Hm?”

A strange question slipped from Serdea, who had been sitting lazily beside her, seemingly tense until a moment ago but now relaxed again.

Airinna likewise turned to look at the fireworks bursting in the distance before the sunset had even fully faded, feeling puzzled.

And.

At that moment.

Airinna’s eyes widened before she realized it.

There were two reasons.

One was because she realized that what was exploding in the distance was not fireworks.

And the other was because something that had burst like that in the sky was flying toward them.

“Ah.”

A low sound of realization escaped Airinna’s lips.

It was an extremely short span of time, not even an instant, but Airinna’s “eye” perceived and analyzed the thing flying toward her with utter perfection, and—

‘I’m going to die.’

—produced the result with terrifying plainness.

Thump—!

But unlike that plain result, Airinna’s heart began pounding madly.

To survive somehow.

In that instant, her thoughts accelerated together with the movement of her gaze.

Should she use a command?

Impossible.

It was unknown whether she could deflect it with a command, and above all, before she could speak even two syllables, that thing would already reach this place.

Should she expect the guards to protect her?

That was impossible too.

The many guards she had positioned after hearing Contanias’s information.

They, too, had noticed the abnormality, but their movements were slower than Airinna’s.

What if she kicked off from her seat and threw herself forward even now?

She would still die.

What if she twisted her chair and fell over?

She would still die.

Die.

Die.

Die.

────────die.

The endpoints of the countless thoughts she drew all pointed to one place.

The endpoint called death.

Airinna turned her gaze again and looked at it.

The gigantic blade, already fully analyzed, had now reached right before Airinna and was drawing the final period that would gift her death.

Facing death that had come so suddenly, she felt hollow.

She had always thought she could die at any time, but she had never thought she would meet such an empty death.

I don’t want to die.

At the same time those thoughts flashed through Airinna’s mind, she instinctively squeezed her eyes shut.

And then.

Crack—!

She heard a sound.

Not the sound of flesh being torn apart, but the sound of something being crushed out of shape.

And when she opened her eyes, what she witnessed was ice that seemed to have frozen everything, even trapping the sunset itself—

and a man wearing the academy uniform.

“Are you all right?”

He spoke indifferently.