Episode 65. midterm exam (7)

Even after Filetta left the chapel, Holden could not sleep for a long time.

Holden did not know what the devil, Pyletta, wanted to flow into the student council.

So even though I think I shouldn’t trust her… . Holden couldn’t help but care about her words and actions.

I can’t help but think that Filetta’s magical tools would have been much more helpful than Holden’s counseling and consolation to the student council executives who were defeated and hurt by Ian’s gang.

‘Goodness that is only words cannot change reality.’

Having managed to shake off his anguish in the darkened chapel, he left with sad eyes.

In his private room, there were medicinal herbs and a few winter flowers that smelled like a winter morning.

A white plant resembling a sharpie that does not wither under any environment. A beautiful and lethargic flower that was given by the people of her own country to her deceased mother.

Holden picked off all the winter flowers that were growing little by little.

‘That’s not a line… . It’s hypocrisy.’

With the transparent melted petals on his hands, he waited for the morning with a relieved heart.

“Heryl. Your dream, I will make it come true.”

* * *

The day the Star Wars, Class A magic duel evaluation begins.

Birds that had been chirping in the nearby forest were startled and soared into the sky at the cheers that echoed through the three practice rooms from early in the morning.

＜Student Holden, please come down to the practice room.＞

Hall 1 was more crowded than other practice centers with students who came to support Holden, and interest was so strong that not only students, but even the seats dedicated to faculty were filled with observers from various academic societies and research institutes.

“Holden! Show me what a senior is like!”

“I love you brother!!”

Holden, who was standing alone, slowly came down to the training ground when his turn was called.

As the sun cast a shadow on Holden, instead of answering the cheers of the observers, he silently glared at Carol on the other side.

Until now, he had never seriously engaged in a magic duel, but today Holden was prepared to use even the Aspect Magic he was afraid to bring out.

To suppress his quivering heart, he recalled the voice of Pyletta over and over again in his head.

‘You can make Haril’s dream come true with your own hands, Holden.’

If Holden wins this duel, Harrill will be able to stop wandering.

For the first time after descending from the mountain, when he thought that he could change the reality of those in need of salvation, his determination grew stronger.

‘Carl. I’m sorry, but I have to win.’

opposite of him.

The first opponent Holden was going to bump into with all his might was writing something and scratching his head right before the exam.

＜Student Karl Gaur, are you ready for the assessment? Carol student?＞

“Ah, what is it? I’m first, Jun, can you take care of this?”

“Senior, please do your best… !”

Not many students supported Carol, who was reluctant to communicate with people.

On the contrary, other students, led by some male students, subtly criticized him for being gloomy.

“Human Calculator, just abstain!”

“Don’t be stubborn and get carried away like last year!”

Looking into Carol’s soul, which was not disturbed at all by the booing, something Holden had never seen before was calmly burning inside.

‘… What are you thinking?’

“… Carol, are you going to abstain?”

“no.”

“Then, why can’t I see any fighting spirit in you?”

“There are more important things than winning or losing right now.”

‘… What, are you serious?’

In Holden’s eyes, Carol’s soul was shining much brighter than it was during the duel last year.

＜Students who build magic circles before the start signal sounds will be disqualified.＞

At that moment, Carol’s eyes, which had been looking at the sky with blank eyes, changed.

“By the way, this is how we met. Help me out. If you’re a senior, your eyes won’t be different. Holden, how many things have I been working on lately?”

“… What?”

“Please check this.”

＜Ready… . start!＞

“Ersa.”

In the Madou language, water.

Along with words he never expected to hear from Carol, the mana around him began to spin at high speed.

“for a moment… !”

As soon as Holden saw the rushing blue light, he gave up his defense and threw himself to the side.

* * *

It was like a lake was pouring.

The water droplets that broke down the barrier and bounced off made a rainbow by diffusely reflecting the morning sun.

Holden lay on his stomach, watching in a daze as the barricades of the training grounds collapsed in the huge waves.

Carol’s discharge drenched the entire floor and remained wet on Holden’s knees.

“You dodged well, too. I’m glad it’s you.”

“What do you mean by that… !”

When Holden, his legs were weak, glanced up at the professors who were in the middle of the evaluation, they only chatted with each other with a surprised look on their faces.

‘No, obviously… . If it’s this powerful.’

Holden recalled Euril’s advice he had heard during their first meeting.

‘The speed at which high-ranking magic is built is threatening. So, in this magic duel evaluation, I put a limit so that I can only use up to 3 circle magic.’

“… You’re disqualified if you use magic that’s above Circle 4, right?”

“Is this the 3rd circle? It’s medium waterproof. It takes time for me to spread the advanced waterproofing as well.”

“I can’t, how could this… .”

“You are sharp. Can’t you tell whether I’m lying or not by looking at it?”

Hearing that, Holden looked back and was even more flustered.

Above Carol’s head, a circle was spinning with a blue light.

Beneath his feet, numerous formulas stretched out freely, emitting yellow light, and the circles and formulas drawn by Carol with free magic were shining in the sky and on the ground.

“What is this… .”

“I wanted to break down the boundaries between free magic and magic formula.”

Even at that moment, the calculation formulas centered on Carol were covering the floor with terrifying momentum, like scribbles drawn by children.

“This method is the most efficient. Now it’s your turn. attack.”

“under… . hahahaha.”

Hwaaak-!

The intermediate level ice spear that Holden shot was too hot to be a 3rd circle magic, and it was blocked by a tall wall and melted.

Surrounded by flames and dyed deep blue, Carol selected several of the calculation formulas that were spreading like a field of dandelions and turned them into blue light.

“The magic formula is systematic but standardized, and free magic is colorful but relies on intuition, right?”

“… therefore.”

“If we can form the axis of the magic circle with free magic, wouldn’t we be able to use a magic formula that changes infinitely according to the wizard’s will?”

The blue flames went out, and mana arrows rained down on Holden.

One shot after another could be blocked somehow, but the hastily constructed mana barrier couldn’t block the follow-up hits.

‘There’s nothing I can do but avoid it…’ !’

Carol has a fast calculation speed, but now the speed of building magic formulas is much faster than last year, making it impossible to build defense magic in time.

‘Besides. That power makes no sense.’

Carol was remodeling the magic formula in real time by adding several of the numerous formulas on the floor.

When some of the formulas that glowed bright yellow turned blue with Carol’s choice, they interacted with Carol’s circle and were transforming into magic several times more powerful than usual.

“How are you, are you okay? Although there is a downside that the opponent can see the circle formation process.”

If the opponent could keep up with Carol’s calculation speed, and if they could understand the meaning of that constantly rotating circle, they would be able to see through his magic.

‘By the way, who would be able to do that… !’

Holden shuddered. I was breathless as I watched the formulas that were now climbing up the wall under the circle that was constantly rotating in front of my eyes.

“I was very worried because today was the first time I used this, but there is no other opponent like you. Thank you so much.”

Beneath the circle as blue as the sky, in the middle of the numbers shining brilliantly in gold, Carol was delighted like a child.

The wind blew her loose blond hair freely.

“It’s thanks to Professor Ian.”

“Ian… ?”

“yes. You showed me the moving circles in class. I got the idea from there and… .”

“Carl.”

Seeing his lively appearance for the first time, Holden’s eyes grew darker.

“… Are you happy?”

“yes?”

“You don’t know what’s going on here because of him!?”

The sun behind Holden started to burn hot.

The morning sky, which had been so blue, gradually turned to scarlet as if on fire. His bright purple eyes turned bright red.

Aspect Magic. A blessing from the stars that can only be used by Elder Sharp who will act in the final moment when evil will rule the world.

“The sun by day, the moon and stars by night. A celestial body that shines in the universe always scatters its light and purifies our hearts.”

The power to burn evil at any moment along with the celestial bodies was dyeing the boy red as he built his own world.

Carol’s blond hair was like a wheat field bathed in the setting sun. He looked up at the distorted sun and murmured.

“You have changed a lot too.”

“Karl, you… ”

“It just went well.”

Holden doubted his ears and eyes. Carol’s soul sparked and began to burn.

Holden, who looked into Carol’s inner world filled with anticipation, passion, hope and happiness, now even felt fear.

“You really die then. Abstain, quickly… !!”

Even in the face of the extremely hot sun that was starting to gather at Holden’s fingertips, Carol did not flinch.

“Yeah, I’m sure you’re curious as well.”

“What… ?”

“Do whatever you want. you that I’m sure you’ve never used it properly.”

Carol’s formulas on the floor slowly began to turn into ice crystals.

“I also had something I wanted to do. It’s a bit risky, but if it’s you, you’ll be able to take it.”

Not long after, the transparent ice that filled the practice room glowed white in the sunlight.

Holden then looked around the entire training ground.

“This… !”

The numbers that seemed to spread randomly were forming a huge regular hexagon.

In the middle of a snowflake made of mathematical formulas, Carol asked Holden.

“Holden, have you ever looked at a snowflake through a magnifying glass?”

The scent of a winter morning was getting thicker and thicker.

* * *

White snow also falls on Mount Sharp, but Holden had never looked closely at the snowflakes.

“Snow falling from the sky all look the same, but if you look closely at them, the shapes are slightly different, making it virtually impossible to find a pair of perfectly identical snowflakes. It is like a fingerprint on a finger.”

Depending on various factors such as temperature and humidity, snow crystals fall from the sky with endlessly different personalities.

“Even if you make it snow with magic, you won’t be able to drop only one type of snowflake. We cannot control nature and the coincidences within it.”

The temperature around us began to drop terribly.

Even the sun was being deprived of its warmth, but there was no way that Carol, who was weak, would be fine with such coldness.

However, Carol did not stop building the magic formula even while exhaling pure white breath.

“Then there is… . What do you think will happen if you create an environment where those coincidences happen? For example, if a magic formula is composed of random numbers, wouldn’t one magic formula have multiple forms?”

As Carol reached out to Holden, the 3rd Circle Magic Intermediate Ice Spear began to build.

All of the pure white formulas that stretched out from Carol’s center began to emit white light in response to his circle.

In front of the ice spears that began to grow like monsters, frantically sucking the warmth around them, Holden shouted in anger.

“Why are you doing this! Don’t you know what kind of accident will happen if one number goes wrong there? Why are you trying to win by making such dangerous magic… ! He said he wasn’t interested in the Imperial Academy earlier, so you’re like Haril-“

“I don’t do bad things to other kids because of my own goals like he did. My goal is only to prove my hypothesis. That’s the attitude a magician who seeks the truth should have.”

“Carl… !”

“And you don’t have to worry about calculation errors.”

Carol was smiling even as she collapsed on the floor unable to overcome the chills.

“This is a magic that was reviewed by Professor Ian during the paper-and-pencil evaluation.”

Holden’s eyes went white.

Ice crystals in infinite shapes began to wash over Holden, and the scent of winter flowers that covered his mother vibrated in the practice room where the temperature dropped.

‘Scent of snowy mountains.’

The practice field filled with white ice resembled a snowy mountain that made people vomit even when they thought about it.

‘mother… .’

In the end, Holden gave up reason.

“yes… . Do it until the end-!!”

Quaang-!!

A flash of red collided with pure white. The superheat shattered the shards of ice and moved forward.

The ice crystals pouring out of Carol melted endlessly, but were created infinitely at the same time.

The boiling water vapor turned into snow, which melted again and permeated the floor repeatedly.

No matter how much Holden tried to paint it red, the world in front of him never lost its white light.

Carol’s soul, which even began to burn mana in her body, and the pure white snow that piled up on it, shone blindingly… .

Holden closed his eyes.

＜Stop.＞

When Holden opened his eyes, Principal Skillbeck was sitting next to him.

“Carl… . Have you grown this far?”

While even the professors who were evaluating the two looked at the principal with bated breath, not a single breath could be heard in the practice room, which was filled with no space to set foot on.

And… . Wiping the blood running down Holden’s cheek, Skillbeck declared.

＜End of evaluation. The winner of this duel is Karl Gaur.＞