＊＊＊
It happened when we were midway through yet another turn. Stella slammed into someone head-on.
“Owww!”
“Be more careful!”
It was none other than Quinza. She and her gang flew past us with curses...going in the direction we’d just come from.
Not long after, several more students came running past Stella and Feena. Stella adjusted her position in the air and watched them go, confused.
“Are you okay, Stella?” Feena asked.
“Yeah, but what was with them...? Why are they going backward?”
A beast roared. Stella looked forward with a start. The passageway was engulfed in darkness, but several eyes gleamed within it. Wolves. They came rushing toward Stella as fast as the wind.
“Ignaria Sein!” Stella chanted at once. A fireball slammed into the lead wolf’s snout. I thought that would do it, but my relief shattered at once.
“What?! It didn’t work!”
The fireball hit the wolf and vanished. It didn’t even slow the thing down.
The wolves barreled toward Stella, ignoring her miracles.
“Iron wall! Terararia Sein!”
An iron wall appeared between Stella and the wolves. But it turned into dust as they slammed into it.
“No way!”
“M-My iron wall...”
The wolves, having broken the wall, moved to bite Stella.
“Stella! Wind!”
“Winaria Sein!”
Stella’s chant lifted her up. The wolves chomped at empty air.
“Are these five-pointers too?! O Spirits of Fire, grant me blazes to burn mine enemies away. Ignaria Sein!”
Fireballs formed in the air and rained down on the wolves, but they didn’t seem bothered whatsoever. In fact, more wolves were coming out of the passageway one after another.
Stella and Feena turned right around.
“I can’t believe they broke your wall, Feena. Something’s wrong with these magibeasts.”
“It seems as if our miracles have no effect on them, but that surely could not be the case... The professor said there would only be grade one magibeasts here.”
This was certainly strange. Quinza had even turned tail and run despite being at the front and everything.
I suddenly remembered the Goddess’s prediction.
The finals tomorrow will prove to you Stella is a witch. In other words, she claimed Stella would cast magic during this exam.
Magic. I had no idea what that would entail. According to what Stella and everyone else had said, magic had twisted the world and ended entire cultures. The Goddess had told me Stella would end up forced to use it for some reason.
Is this it, Goddess? Is this the situation you predicted that would force Stella to cast magic?
I glanced at the magibeasts and noticed something strange. They were biting at Stella and only her—they didn’t even look Feena’s way.
And you know what? This isn’t anything new. Magibeasts always target her.
The pansy magibeast had ignored Feena for some reason in order to keep chasing Stella. The rats Quinza had made had done it too. The wyvern had ignored all the students to aim for Stella. What did it all mean?
“Eek!”
Stella fell from me with a shriek. One of the wolves had leaped up and got her.
She hit the ground and rolled, while the wolf quickly pounced on top of her.
“Stella!”
“Deus est mors,” I chanted as I hit the ground. Using my divine power wasn’t wise since the professors were watching from afar, but this was an emergency.
I thought the black beam would’ve hit the wolf, but it sensed something and twisted to dodge. Tch. It got away.
“Are you all right, Stella?!”
“I’m fine. It didn’t even scratch me,” Stella said, sitting up. It looked like the magibeast had just ripped her skirt. I was glad her pale thigh was unhurt, but ripping a girl’s skirt up was pretty pervy. I looked to the magibeast and ended up stunned.
The magibeast was evolving. It was undergoing a transformation so dramatic it could only be called evolution.
The muscles across its body bulged up with impossible speed, and its limbs all stretched outward. It got a head taller, and finally stood on two legs.
“GRAAAAH!” it roared, loud enough to pierce my ears.
“Um...?”
“Eeeek!”
Stella froze while Feena wailed.
At this point we were facing not a wolf, but an overgrown werewolf. It stood on two legs and towered over us at roughly three meters tall. With bulging muscles, it lifted a massive battle-axe that had seemingly appeared out of thin air.
How did this happen?
The magibeast had evolved into something impossibly violent. It didn’t make sense. It just wasn’t logical. Why did the magibeast evolve out of nowhere, and right after ripping up Stella’s skirt? Wh—
With a start, I looked at Stella again and checked where the wolf had gotten her.
I get it! So that’s why...! I understand everything now!
Why did magibeasts only ever attack Stella? Why did the magibeast evolve out of nowhere? All the mysteries aligned and guided me to the answer—one I’d been seeking this entire time.
“Stella, Feena! Get away from the monster!” I yelled, hoping to snap the girls out of their frozen stupor, but it was the magibeast that reacted instead. With its battle-axe at the ready, it took heavy, loud footsteps toward Stella.
It swung its blade, and in that moment Stella lifted me up.
“Deus est...”
I can’t make it!
The last thing I saw was the rusty axe zooming right up to my face. I heard a crunch, and with that I fell unconscious.