Chapter 17

Chapter 17: The Conclusion, and Victory

“Hey! What the hell were you thinking?!”

Eliza stormed over to Shion, who was lying on his back against the wall of the Duel Arena, her anger blazing.

Shion, who had been slammed into the arena wall by Eliza’s “Giant’s Frozen Fist,” had collapsed to the ground and declared his defeat, surrendering.

At first glance, it seemed like a fair conclusion, but Eliza wasn’t convinced. If Shion had been serious, she couldn’t believe he wouldn’t have been able to dodge the “Giant’s Frozen Fist.”

The man who had shown godlike skill in dodging every single one of her “Destructive Piercing Rain of Wind Arrows,” a technique that unleashed countless wind arrows at subsonic speeds, shouldn’t have been unable to dodge a mere “Giant’s Frozen Fist,” even if it was a sneak attack.

From Eliza’s perspective, the “Giant’s Frozen Fist” was just a warning shot.

It was a statement that “the fight isn’t over yet” to Shion, who had prematurely declared victory with a “Checkmate.” She hadn’t intended to actually hit him with a serious spell in that situation.

Moreover, even if the “Giant’s Frozen Fist” had hit, Eliza didn’t believe someone with Shion’s immense power would go down so easily.

Eliza Rowlett, ranked third in her year, had unleashed her ultimate technique, the “Destructive Piercing Rain of Wind Arrows.” Dodging every single one of those arrows was something even an A-rank magic student like her would find impossible.

At the very least, no one in her A-class could pull off such a feat.

The man who had remained calm and composed throughout the duel, facing Eliza’s powerful spells head-on, couldn’t possibly have been struggling just to dodge. If he hadn’t considered Eliza’s spells a threat at all, he wouldn’t have had that much composure.

Therefore, based on the glimpse of power Shion had shown during the duel, his true strength was likely A-rank or higher.

Magicians possess a defense against magic called anti-magic, proportional to their magical power. So, it was only natural that Eliza didn’t believe Shion, who was clearly at least A-rank, would be taken down by a single hit from the “Giant’s Frozen Fist.”

Yet, after being slammed into the arena wall by the “Giant’s Frozen Fist,” Shion had casually declared his defeat.

His calm tone suggested he still had plenty of energy left.

Taking all this into account, Eliza Rowlett came to one conclusion.

Shion had intentionally taken the hit from the “Giant’s Frozen Fist,” letting Eliza win while still holding back.

This conclusion, reached by the prideful Eliza, who took great pride in her third-place ranking, rubbed her the wrong way.

In a fit of rage, she approached Shion, who was still lying on his back, straddled him, grabbed his collar, and shouted.

“Are you making fun of me?!”

“What are you talking about?”

Eliza glared at Shion with fury, but Shion’s expression remained unchanged.

This only made Eliza angrier.

“Don’t play dumb! You deliberately didn’t dodge that, didn’t you?! You dodged all my spells head-on, but you’re telling me you couldn’t dodge the ‘Giant’s Frozen Fist’?!”

“…No, there was no way I could dodge that. It was point-blank.”

Shion replied, still expressionless.

In fact, the magic circle for the “Giant’s Frozen Fist” had been almost touching Shion, and the ice fist had struck him almost the moment it was unleashed. His explanation made sense.

“But with your level of movement, you had enough time to dodge from the moment I activated the magic circle to when the spell was unleashed…!”

“…True, if I had activated the spell I used to dodge your wind arrows, I might have been able to dodge it.”

“But,” Shion continued, “I had already stopped activating that spell because I thought the duel was over. Even if you wanted to continue, I didn’t expect you to unleash a spell from that position, so I was completely caught off guard. Dodging that was impossible.”

“………!!”

Eliza was at a loss for words. Shion’s explanation, while seemingly evasive, was undeniably logical.

…But then.

“…Then, what?”

Eliza shot Shion a sharp look.

“Are you saying it’s my fault for not admitting defeat sooner…?!”

Eliza shouted, vehemently denying her own fault. But deep down, she knew she was just lashing out.

Her full-powered spells, her ultimate technique—all of it had been dodged head-on by Shion, who had then casually surrendered with energy to spare. In that moment, Eliza’s magic had been utterly defeated by Shion.

Everything she had built up had been completely crushed in front of Shion.

She understood that she had struggled because she couldn’t accept this fact. But even so, she refused to admit defeat.

She couldn’t accept that the duel had ended in such an unsatisfactory way because she hadn’t admitted defeat, and she screamed to deny it.

“Was it because I didn’t admit defeat sooner?”

“Was it my fault for not admitting defeat?”

To this, Shion responded.

“—No, that’s absolutely not it.”

“…!”

Shion, who had remained calm even while being yelled at by Eliza, suddenly met her gaze with a powerful look.

“No matter how much you’re beaten down, no matter how much the difference in strength is shown, no matter how hopeless the situation seems. —As long as you don’t give up, you haven’t lost.”

“………!”

His words carried an inexplicable weight.

Under the pressure of the man looking up at her, Eliza faltered.

“Even if I had unleashed my spell at that point, you might have dodged it, or blocked it. Or maybe it wouldn’t have worked even if it hit. …At that moment, you definitely hadn’t lost yet.”

With that, Shion continued.

“No matter how unfavorable the situation, if you didn’t think you had lost, then you hadn’t lost. I thought I had won and let my guard down, and you took advantage of that. —That’s why it’s my loss.”

“?!”

Shion calmly explained his own defeat and Eliza’s victory.

“I would have done the same if I were you. Well, it’s true that I wanted you to give up and surrender at that point,” he added.

“What’s with that…?! Then why did you admit defeat so easily?! You could still fight, couldn’t you?!”

Eliza lashed out at Shion.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I can’t go any further.”

“What do you mean you can’t?! You still look perfectly fine!”

Eliza refused to listen to Shion’s calm reply.

“…It’s faster to show you than explain.”

With that, Shion, still straddled by Eliza, began to remove the upper part of his combat uniform.

“Huh?! W-wait! What are you doing…?!”

Eliza, remembering Shion’s earlier outburst in the Equipment Storage, panicked.

“…Huh?”

But as Shion’s upper body came into view, Eliza’s face turned pale.

“What… is that…?”

What Eliza saw was Shion’s skin, unnaturally discolored a deep blue-black around his right chest.

“This? My ribs are broken.”

With that, Shion pressed his finger against the discolored area on his right side.

“See?” As Shion pressed down, his finger sank deep into his flesh with a sickening squelch, far deeper than should have been possible.

“N-nooooooo!!”

Eliza screamed at the horrifying sight.

“Y-you! What are you doing?! Stop it! D-doesn’t that hurt?!”

“My ribs are broken, of course it hurts. Are you insane?”

“That’s my line! If it hurts, stop it! Are you out of your mind?!”

“No, I thought this would make it easier to understand that they’re broken.”

“I get it, I get it! Just take your finger off right now!”

As Eliza frantically pleaded, Shion complied, saying, “Good, if you understand.” When he removed his finger, an unnatural indentation remained in his upper body.

“You… you’re really insane…”

As Eliza said, that insanity was his true nature.

Even if every bone in his body were shattered, it would be nothing compared to the pain a magician feels when they run out of magic.

For Shion, who had endured “magic depletion” countless times during his daily training, a few broken ribs were bearable.

If he couldn’t withstand that much pain, he wouldn’t be able to undergo such rigorous training. It wasn’t that his sense of pain was numbed; he simply endured the pain after feeling it.

He had resorted to such extreme measures to quickly prove to Eliza that his ribs were broken.

“See? I can’t fight anymore. With this kind of fatal injury, the duel is my loss.”

With that, Shion calmly asserted his defeat.

“I said you haven’t lost until you admit defeat, but I have no reason to risk my life to win this duel. This is enough for me to admit defeat. Or do you still want to beat me to a pulp? You said you challenged me to a duel to do just that, but is this not enough?”

“………!”

Eliza was at a loss for words. While she could be overly prideful, Eliza Rowlett still had a basic sense of decency.

She couldn’t bring herself to tell a man who had suffered serious injuries from her spells to keep fighting. In fact,

“I-I didn’t mean to go this far…”

She was visibly shaken by the evidence of her excessive violence.

Even though she had been furious about “being seen in her underwear and wanting to beat him to a pulp,” seeing the gruesome wounds she had inflicted firsthand was enough to unsettle her.

“Well, if your wind arrows had hit, I’d probably be dead.”

“Don’t be stupid! I adjusted the penetration power so they wouldn’t kill even if they hit!”

Shion glanced at the upper right corner of his vision, where the arena wall bore the marks of extraordinary destruction, and thought, “(Even if they didn’t penetrate, wouldn’t that have killed me…?)” but kept it to himself.

He figured there was no point in arguing and risking Eliza’s anger.

“…Healing magic.”

Suddenly, Eliza placed her hand over Shion’s injured area and activated a healing spell.

A faint yellow-green light enveloped Shion, and the pain quickly subsided as his discolored skin returned to its healthy hue.

“…? What’s this about?”

“Shut up. Just stay still.”

Eliza snapped at the confused Shion and continued healing.

“…There, it’s mostly healed now. Hurry up and put your clothes back on.”

After a while, she stopped the healing spell. Shion’s skin had completely returned to its normal color.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to say we should continue the duel now…?”

“N-no! I just… I went a bit too far, so…”

Eliza’s forceful denial was followed by a weak, barely audible mumble.

“…? What did you say?”

“Ugh, shut up! What, do you have a problem with me healing you?!”

Eliza, who had been looking down, suddenly looked up and shouted.

“…No… I don’t.”

Shion, caught off guard by the sudden outburst, replied meekly.

Eliza then said, “Hmph, that’s good.”

“The duel… is over. I got to beat you up and feel satisfied, so it’s done.”

“What about the kneeling and shoe-licking?”

“I’m not so far gone as to make you do that after such a conclusion.”

With that, Eliza got up and moved away from Shion.

“But I still don’t like your overly confident attitude, so I’ll make you eat your words someday.”

She pointed at Shion while looking down at him.

“Eat your words. How’s that?”

“That’s not how it works! Are you stupid?!”

“…Sigh, I’d rather avoid trouble.”

“Your way of talking is so annoying, stop it!”

“…Sigh, you’re really something.”

“I said it’s annoying! Stop it!”

“…Fine, whatever,” Eliza concluded, realizing that arguing with this insane man would only tire her out.

“…I’m leaving.”

With that, she walked briskly toward the arena exit.

Just as it seemed she would leave the arena, she turned back to Shion once.

“Someday, I’ll definitely settle this properly, so remember that!”

With that, Eliza opened the exit door,

“Idiooooooot!”

and slammed it shut behind her as she left the arena.

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