Of course, he had lived alongside violence up until now, but never more than a “half killing.”
So he hesitated. He couldn’t help it.
And that one moment of hesitation…was fatal.
“…In the woods we loved, the Forest of Endyard…”
At that moment, Rix, who had looked completely defeated, pulled his sword out of the ground…slowly raised it…and began to move, like some kind of puppet or machine.
Something about his form, his existence, was purely terrifying. Terrifying. Terrifying.
“Ugh, ah, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH?!”
In an attempt to blast Rix away, Gordon charged up a lightning attack with both hands, even more powerful than ever before—but it was already too late.
“…The fox cub cries…”
In an instant, Rix disappeared from Gordon’s vision.
But Gordon thought he saw something… A light at the tip of Rix’s sword.
“Wh-what…just happened…?”
All the students who had been watching the fight between Rix and Gordon were dumbfounded.
Before them they saw Rix, with his sword unsheathed, and Gordon frozen in a daze, standing back-to-back.
No one had been able to see what exactly had happened.
All they had seen was that light…or at least they thought they had.
“Y-you… What…did you do…?” Gordon stammered.
Trembling, he began to turn back toward Rix…
“Gwaaahhhhhhhh?!”
…but instead coughed up blood.
They could now see that Gordon’s body had been slashed cleanly, from his left shoulder down to his right hip.
It was unfathomable. An ordinary human, with nothing but one attack from a sword, had broken through Gordon’s physical enhancement barrier created by his Sphere.
“Gyaaaaaaaaah?! It hurts! It huuuuuuuuuuuuurts! A-are you serious?! S-someone help meeeeeeee!”
Having narrowly escaped a mortal wound, Gordon cried out and fell floundering to the ground.
He had completely lost his concentration and soundness of mind. There was no way for his Sphere nor his physical enhancement magic to retain its shape.
In this state, Gordon was no more than an ordinary human.
Faced with this unbelievable scene playing out in front of them, not a single soul moved.
Except one.
“…”
It was Rix.
He walked silently over to Gordon and stood by his side.
Rix’s eyes were like bottomless voids.
“Eek?!” This had Gordon terrified. “I—I got it! I understand! I—I lost! I won’t mess with Shino anymore! I’ll get on my hands and knees and apologize! So—so please, just…!”
Heedless to Gordon’s pleas, Rix silently raised his sword.
He turned it around, passed it to his other hand, and aimed the tip toward Gordon’s head.
Gordon began trembling even harder.
“…Wh-wha…? Hey, you’re kidding… You’re joking, right…?! You weren’t serious…when you said we would wager our lives on this fight…right?! Right?!”
Gordon looked up at Rix.
Rix’s eyes were completely devoid of emotion. They were endlessly dark and empty. He was like an automaton executing orders.
It was already clear what Rix was about to do.
“N-nooooooooo! Mamaaaaaaaaa!!” Gordon screamed, panicking.
Rix aimed for Gordon’s head and brought down his sword in a flash.
As he did, everyone instinctively covered their eyes in anticipation of the terrible scene they expected to witness.
Slash!
However, Rix brought down his sword not on Gordon’s head but the spot on the ground right next to it.
“Juuust kiddiiiiing!” Rix teased. “As if I’d ever do something like that. This is just a practice match in the middle of class, y’know? I’m joking around, obviously. So, uh, anyway…Shino, could you let go of me?”
Shino had wrapped her arms around him from behind and was clinging to him.
It was almost as if she had been desperately trying to stop Rix from going off to some faraway place.
Shino, having registered that Rix was just joking around like always, let out the faintest sigh of relief and released him.
“…Hmph.”
Then, with a sniff, she turned away from him.
With Shino still in the corner of his eye, Rix started teasing Gordon.
“Well, did I scare you? Scared you good, right? Right?”
Gordon didn’t answer. He was splayed out unconscious on the ground with his eyes rolled back, foaming at the mouth.
“Uh-oh, maybe I went a little too far…? Sorry.” Rix scratched his head awkwardly upon realizing he might have done something wrong.
“Phew… So it was just a joke… For a second there, I thought you were serious…”
“Y-you really made me nervous…”
“Thank goodness…”
Randy, Serephina, and Annie, who had been watching with bated breath, heaved sighs of relief.
The tension building up among the other students also began to dissipate.
“But…why could Rix’s attack suddenly pass through Gordon’s defense?” Randy wondered.
“Well, perhaps Gordon was starting to lose his concentration during the match, and that created an opening in his physical enhancement spell. I can’t think of any other explanation.”
“Hmph, so he was saved by the other guy being a foolish bastard. What dumb luck.”
Serephina and Alfred offered their theories.
For the most part, they seemed to agree on how Rix had been able to achieve such a miraculous comeback victory.
As Rix watched their discussion out of the corner of his eye…
“But really…I would have never imagined you’d go so far as to cling to me like that to try to stop me.”
…he tried talking to Shino, who had her back to him.
“Wait, did I really look that out of control? I’m a little shocked, to be honest,” he added.
“……Whatever.”
Shino falteringly tried to get up and leave, but she was still badly hurt. She instead fell flat onto the ground.
“Whoa?! Shino?! Are you all right?!”
Rix went to run over to her, but…
“Uh, actually…I don’t feel so good, either…”
…he, too, collapsed on the spot.
“Wh-whaaaaaat?! Riiiiiiiiiix!!” Randy hollered.
“Annie! Heal him! Do it now!” Serephina ordered.
“O-okay!”
The students fell into a frenzy once again.
“Hey,” said Darwin. “I’ll have you know…you’re still in class. Hurry up and move on to your next match, you fools.”
“Whaaaaat?! Even after all that?!”
“Seriously, what’s up with the teachers at this school?!”
Darwin’s unfazed demeanor was enough to put the students at their wits’ end.