Chapter 18

Episode 18: The Conclusion, and Victory <2>

Eliza Rowlett left the Duel Arena, leaving Shion alone inside.

Leaning against the wall, he sat with his right leg stretched out and his left knee raised. And his face… was currently grinning like an idiot.

He tried to put on his usual cool expression, but… nope. His facial muscles immediately relaxed, and he couldn’t hold back the grin, his mouth corners lifting uncontrollably.

The reason for this uncharacteristic display was the duel he had just had with Eliza Rowlett.

The duel where he had been crushed by Eliza’s “Giant’s Frozen Fist” and surrendered.

That conclusion was exactly the clear vision of victory he had envisioned before the duel began.

Dodging all of Eliza’s magic, making it seem like a display of overwhelming skill, and then deliberately getting hit by her magic to surrender.

That was his vision of victory.

The key conditions were to give the impression that he could have finished her off at any time if he wanted, and to let her magic hit him to fulfill her desire to beat him up as payback for seeing her underwear.

Moreover, it was crucial that he didn’t just let her magic hit him on purpose, but that he got hit in a way that made her believe it was unavoidable.

If Shion had obviously held back and lost, Eliza wouldn’t have been satisfied with the outcome, and the situation would have dragged on longer.

Having cleared all these complex conditions, Shion perfectly executed the duel exactly as he had envisioned.

Eliza Rowlett won the duel while feeling a sense of defeat, and Shion Kurosaki achieved the exact conclusion he had planned.

It was a classic case of “losing the battle but winning the war.”

Despite being born without any talent for magic, inferior even to ordinary people, he had essentially scored a victory over the overwhelmingly superior Eliza Rowlett.

Having achieved such a brilliant underdog victory, it was no wonder he couldn’t suppress his grin.

…However, it’s important not to misunderstand that Shion was undoubtedly inferior to Eliza in terms of actual strength.

He had schemed to give Eliza the impression that he could have finished her off at any time, and he succeeded in that plan.

But the idea that he could have finished her off at any time was not true; it was merely an impression he created.

Using “Limit Break,” he dodged all her magic and closed in, making it seem like he could have finished her off at any moment. But in reality, that was absolutely impossible.

Because at the moment he declared “Checkmate” to Eliza, Shion was already out of mana and could barely stand.

“Limit Break” is an incredibly powerful magic, but it consumes a lot of mana. With his limited mana reserves, Shion could only use it for a maximum of ten seconds.

Moreover, Shion hadn’t fully mastered controlling “Limit Break,” and while it was active, his body was under constant strain, making it difficult to move properly.

If he could perfectly control “Limit Break,” he could move freely at near-supersonic speeds. But for now, that was far beyond his capabilities, and he could only manage to dodge things while walking.

In other words, he wasn’t casually dodging Eliza’s magic while walking; that was his limit.

He acted like he deliberately got hit by the “Giant’s Frozen Fist,” but in reality, Shion, who was out of mana, couldn’t have avoided it no matter what.

If Eliza had insisted on hitting him with “Destructive Piercing Rain of Wind Arrows” until the last moment and stayed far back, Shion would have run out of mana before he could close the distance.

Or if Eliza had held out just one second longer with “Destructive Piercing Rain of Wind Arrows,” he might have been reduced to a pile of flesh.

And if Eliza had calmly reset the match after Shion declared “Checkmate,” he would have been left in a pitiful state, completely out of mana, and suffered a crushing defeat.

The fact that he achieved the conclusion he had envisioned was purely due to a miraculous alignment of timing.

In other words, the entire duel had gone his way purely by luck.

And yet, in the post-duel conversation with Eliza, he exuded an aura of “I let you win on purpose,” and now he was basking in the belief that the entire duel had gone exactly as he had planned.

Having successfully pulled off his “hiding my true power” move with all his might, he still couldn’t suppress that grin…

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