Dragonlord

Ep 29. I Tend To Pick Favorites. (5)

Ep 29. I Tend To Pick Favorites. (5)

The archmage leaned his chin against his fist, scanning the names of students on the document at hand. A faint smile curved his lips, and his humming filled the otherwise quiet office.

After years of witnessing the headmaster’s usual, cranky attitude that choked the office from overwork, their pleased expression and lightened mood was nothing short of shocking to his poor secretary standing by. Heck, his employer was even giggling like a child from time to time.

“So a grand total of 14 students met the initial affinity threshold…fewer than what I’d expected, admittedly.”

“An affinity scale of 90 is quite rare, headmaster. And…I think many students were rather intimidated that the second portion of the exam was a mock duel against you.”

“Haha! I do wish they wouldn’t be so intimidated. I’m but an old man nearing his retirement.”

“…You ARE an archmage, headmaster.”

“What meaning does that title carry? ‘Tis but a word attached to my name – without my approval at that. I’m but a simple researcher like any other academic.”

“…”

“Well, shall we be off then? It’s time to greet our most talented students.”

✧   ✧   ✧

‘…And it’s barely been an hour since he said that.’

The secretary clenched his eyes, turning away in response to yet another explosion that enveloped the stage in smoke. Aside from the settling dust, a student’s heavy coughs and heaving breaths were the only audible sounds; they dearly held onto the staff in hand with shaking arms, standing behind a barrier spell that had taken the brunt of the impact.

On the other side of the arena was a grinning headmaster. His blue overcoat was still perfectly clean; his gloved hands were calmly folded behind his back, with one of them holding onto his cane in a relatively loose grip. A yellow stone was attached to his pendant – the same pendant that was being worn by the opposing student.

“Oh? A splendid barrier! Splendid indeed. It’s rare to see lightning-aspected spells used in defensive ways.”

“This is nothing. I can still…!”

“However, a mage must always remain vigilant. We must always be thinking five – no, ten steps ahead.”

As soon as the headmaster finished his sentence, another series of explosions burst forth from the floor beneath the student, leaving the poor boy no room to react. When the smoke cleared for the second time, shattered pieces of his kirium pendant dropped to the floor, its fragments bright blue from absorbing the spells that would’ve harmed the wearer.

“Persevere in your endeavors. Next!”

The defeated student retreated from the stage after bowing to the headmaster, his expression mixed with regret and respect. His magic hadn’t even been able to reach the opponent.

The secretary brought his pen over to the list in hand, crossing out yet another name. After a long sigh, he approached the stage to inform his employer:

“Headmaster. Next student is…the last one. Zion.”

The mage raised his eyebrows. That was the name of the student that had caused the entire examination to take place – and being last on the list meant that they were the first one to pass the first portion, which he’d only heard so much about.

‘So this student is the perfect adapter that broke the scaling device! My, I do look forward to seeing what they’re capable of.’

Meanwhile, Patrick was sitting at the audience seats with several other students and instructors that had come to watch. While no audience tickets had been sold for this particular event due to its abrupt execution, he’d still managed to gain himself a seat as an enforcer on duty, tasked with making sure that ‘nothing got out of hand.’ Technically, anyways.

Of course, nothing even came close to getting out of hand thus far. The duels had all been one-sided; the headmaster had never even been scratched yet. Patrick scoffed at how the duels had progressed thus far, gazing down on the mage standing in the arena.

‘I guess that’s only natural. Talented or not, they’re just first and second year students…against an archmage.’

Archmage Gio Dugrin. Headmaster of the Magic Institute, and a mage that is said to be challenging the gates of the 10^th circle. Every user of magic throughout the continent knew his name, and many aspiring mages looked to him as a role model. Whether these junior years were special or not, there was no way mere students could hope to contest such an individual in a duel.

For students, that is.

Patrick looked to the other side of the stage, towards the familiar figure climbing the small flight of stairs.

He could still remember his little sibling’s admission exam: the boy had climbed the stage sweating his brains out, nervous and lacking in confidence. Now, the same sibling was stepping up to the stage once more, looking and behaving like a completely different person – and obviously without a single hint of hesitation in their eyes.

‘Yeah…I don’t know if we can count that as a ‘student.’ Don’t get hurt out there, buddy.’

And while you’re at it, try not to hurt the headmaster either.

The headmaster greeted his final challenger with a hearty chuckle.

“A pleasure to meet you, Zion! As you know, my name is Gio Dugrin. You’ve been told of the rules, yes? Standing outside the stage parameters results in instant disqualification. All types of magic are allowed. Your goal is to shatter my kirium pendant, while protecting the one you’ve been given.”

The dragonlord was indeed wearing the same yellow pendant herself, which had been given to her before the mock duels began. But she hadn’t paid hers any mind; for her, what mattered wasn’t how much the stone would protect her, but how much it’d protect her opponent. And so, Serenis seized the chance to properly quantify her estimate.

“I have a question.”

“Hm? Yes, do ask.”

“This stone – how much mana can it absorb?”

“The kirium pendant? A 4^th circle spell will be just about its limits.”

“Only?”

“Oh? ’Only’? Hahahaha! My, if you’re by any means worried of my safety, then I assure you that I will keep myself safe. Attack me to your heart’s content.”

“…Is that so? I appreciate it.”

“Yes yes, as much as…hm?”

Five distinct patches of mana began to crackle above the dragonlord. The headmaster’s laughter abruptly came to cease as his eyes made out the spells forming above his challenger’s figure.

A ball of fire.

A streak of lightning.

A diamond of ice.

A spike of metal.

And a rugged stone.

Five separate spells of differing elements floated above the dragonlord’s head. Individually, they weren’t anything noteworthy – but when Serenis held her hand outwards, the elements slithered across the air in response, beginning to fuse into a singular orb at her palm. A horrifying screech gnawed at the audience’s ears as the five elements violently resisted their fusion; several spectators had to cover their ears.

“What is that thing?!...Is he using five different elements at once?!”

“…A penta synthesis? From a first year?”

Patrick watched the dragon in horrified silence, fixing the grip on his staff. A streak of cold sweat brushed his chin as the enforcer prepared to shield the audience with a barrier spell.

‘That’s not synthesis…that’s not even a spell, that’s just five different elements forcibly being compressed together. It’s an insanely unstable mass of mana!’

Forcibly fusing different elements was commonly known as a guaranteed way to get a spell to explode on the caster; fusing five was probably a guaranteed way to open a hellgate on the spot. As far as Patrick could tell, Serenis was on the verge of killing everyone in the area, herself included.

Contrary to her spectators, Serenis remained indifferent about the unstable orb in her palm; she nonchalantly made a tossing motion as the orange mass launched itself across the air, leaving a steaming trail in its path towards the headmaster up ahead.

Gio unfolded his arms, fixing the grip on his cane. Once he confirmed the trajectory of the incoming mana bomb, a pitch-black shadow engulfed the tip of his cane that expanded into a black, void-like rift in the air.

A murky sinking sound reverberated from the rift as the dragonlord’s orb sank into the blackened space. Once completely absorbed, the rift closed up and disappeared. Only then did Patrick loosen the grip on his own staff, sighing in relief of the potential disaster that had passed.

The archmage let out a nervous laughter. He was smiling, but it was no longer the comfortable, laid-back grin that it was before.

“…My. You use some interesting spells, Zion.”

“Focus.”

As the dragonlord curtly instructed the headmaster, Patrick could see her figure beginning to crack and fade like a broken image. Moments after, she disappeared from sight.

‘A shrouding spell? Or-‘

The enforcer’s eyes darted over to the headmaster. Just like he’d expected, Serenis’ figure flickered into existence behind the archmage.

“Hm!”

Gio’s cane drew a fiery arc across the air as he swiftly turned around, swinging his enflamed weapon into the student that had appeared behind him. Several spectators gasped in surprise, watching the swing happen almost immediately as Serenis had appeared.

“Did he just teleport? That fast?”

“Not just that, the headmaster read the teleport!”

“That’s what it takes to be an archmage, I guess…”

Unfortunately, the cane cleanly sliced through the dragonlord as her image seemed to once again flickered out of existence. Gio widened his eyes, watching his flaming cane connect to nothing but the floor below.

“What? But how-“

“Focus, child.”

Serenis seemingly appeared out of the blue, once again behind the headmaster that had turned his back from the last swing. Her right arm was noticeably glowing in a faint blue light as she grabbed Gio’s overcoat, somehow managing to throw the archmage into the air single-handedly.

‘Reinforcement?’

Patrick clutched his head, wracking his brain to remember whether if he’d ever taught that to his little sibling – and he definitely hadn’t.

Reinforcement, by virtue of using mana, was technically ‘magic’ – and therefore, still within the realm of this exam’s regulation. The problem was, physical reinforcement wasn’t a form of magic mages actually used. Reinforcement was majorly used by hunters who couldn’t properly learn elemental magic.

Meanwhile, the spectating students gasped in surprise for a completely different reason. They could understand an archmage reading someone’s teleport in split seconds; what Serenis had just done, however, did not make any sense. Her image had flickered twice in succession, and the archmage’s read had failed.

“…Alright, now explain what happened.”

“Two teleports?”

“You know that’s not possible, right?”

“Hell if I know then.”

Patrick grimaced at the sight. There was no way a student would be able to follow that. Even an astute mage wouldn’t be able to tell without a careful examination.

‘The first teleport was just a moving illusion to distract him. While the headmaster was occupied with a teleported fake, she used a shrouding spell and walked the whole way...’

Many intricate spells required complex preparation that could stretch on for hours or days; teleportation was one of them, and for a good reason.

What would happen if a mage were to accidentally teleport into an existing terrain? The overlap would instantly split their bodies into countless pieces and kill them. Even with a small miscalculation, one could end up teleporting their arm into a wall, their leg into the ground. A mountain of mages had lost their limbs, or even lives, with one small miscalculation in their teleportation formulas. Hence, it was conventional to prepare the spell for at least an hour, days for longer distances; even then, the spell involved immeasurable risk when sight was compromised.

Alas, there was no such risk involved in what Serenis had done. What she’d teleported was an illusory double, not her actual body. The ruse had effectively fooled her spectators and opponent alike while she simply walked over to the headmaster with a shrouding spell, appearing before the archmage to throw him into the air like a playing ball.

Gio grinned from the air as he fixed his posture. His mind was racing with excitement and anticipation, but most prominent of all was genuine surprise.

“Truly remarkable! Never have I seen an individual use teleportation in such ways!“

Serenis shook her head in disappointment. It was almost like he wasn’t listening to her at all.

Clearly, he’s still not focusing.

 “…Hm?”

Noticing the student shaking their head in dismay, Gio hurriedly expanded his mana across the arena. Only then did his senses finally pick up spells that were surrounding him.

Serenis sighed from below, folding her arms behind her – just like Gio had been doing throughout the entire event.

“Have you forgotten your own words? One must always look ten steps ahead.”

The archmage hurriedly raised his arms to cover his face. With all the time he’d wasted being amazed by the student before him, even he didn’t have enough time to react to the incoming spells he was reading around him. A splash of green liquid burst forth from the ground to greet his fall, and several pillars of metal materialized around him, crashing into his figure in the green poison.

The crowd worriedly watched the headmaster become a black silhouette, covered in poison and locked midair by the metals crunching together. With the enormous pillars intersecting into a poisonous mass high above, the scene even seemed like an intricate death row.

Poison and steel elements were often used together for lethal purposes; it wouldn’t have been surprising if a corpse were to melt onto the floor.

The secretary’s gaze was fixed onto his employer’s silhouette.

“…Headmaster?”

Gio’s murky shadow began to darken further and further. Drops of black liquid fell onto the floor, gradually becoming a stream of shadows that pooled into a black puddle on the arena.

A deathly silence filled the air. The dragonlord’s spells faded away, leaving nothing but her and the archmage’s remains across the stage.

Serenis remained still, quietly staring at the puddle ahead. When the crowd was busily wondering how to respond to the scene before them, the dragonlord’s annoyed voice broke their silence.

“Do you plan to stay that way forever?”

Another hearty laughter broke out as the archmage emerged from the mass of shadows. Parts of his overcoat was now torn and molten, and one of his gloves had completely vanished. In exchange, his pendant remained safe and intact.

“My sincerest apologies. I hoped to scare you a little, but it seems you see right through my antics.”

The confidence in the archmage’s expression had all but disappeared. A firm grip on his cane signalled that he could no longer take this mock duel lightheartedly.

“Shall we continue?”

“…”

Meanwhile, Gio’s secretary finally let go of the breath he’d been holding. A part of him was glad to see the headmaster alive.

A bigger part of him felt that he deserved a raise for putting up with this man all the time.