Following their match, each group went down to the arena one after the other and fought against magic beasts. Students were constantly getting hurt, but there were only minor injuries. These students had all been strong enough to win a spot at the camp, so everyone was able to defeat their prescribed opponents and attain victory within the established fifteen-minute time limit. Cecil, Carlo, Filiel, Luca, and Zeke’s group had to face the most magical beasts at once, but even then, there weren’t enough to put up a real fight against them. Cecil and Luca together defeated every magic beast without even giving the other three a chance to fight, and they were showered with the loudest cheers of the day.
When all of the upperclassmen’s matches were over, it was the first-years’ turn. They had observed the previous matches and spent the time elaborately working out strategies among their groups, but now that their matches were approaching, they all started to look anxious and panicked—quite a few of them looked ill. However, Yui’s group, who was the first up, didn’t show a single shred of fear as they entered the arena.
They finished preparing, and the magic beasts appeared. There were ten of them in total. The venue started to get noisy when spectators saw the sheer number of opponents Yui’s group was facing. Soon there was a large commotion. The upperclassmen had generally only fought somewhere between five and ten magic beasts, so it was no wonder everyone was surprised to see a group of inexperienced first-years going up against ten at once.
“Wow, this is way too many for beginners like us!” Lyle complained. He turned to Ivo. “This is your fault, Mr. Child Prodigy.”
“Yeah, Ivo. Take some responsibility,” Clois said bitterly.
“Shut up!” Ivo shouted angrily. “Look who’s talking!”
Despite the fact that their battle was about to start, their exchange lacked any sense of nervousness.
“From my perspective, you three are pretty much the same,” Finney said. “But for us humble class H students, this is a real pain. Right, Yu—” He looked back to seek Yui’s agreement, but when he did, he saw something outrageous.
Though they were in the middle of their fight against magic beasts, she had sat herself down on the ground, leaned back against the wall, cast a defense spell around herself, and opened up a book.
Finney had been expecting something like this, so he just smiled awkwardly, but when Ivo saw Yui relaxing, he started screaming at her. “Yuiiii! What the hell are you dooooing?!”
“I’m reading Read This and You’ll Be Unbeatable! All Must-Eat Treats! The Complete Expert’s Guide to Popular Bahal Confectioneries,” Yui said casually.
“Still?! Throw it away, burn it, and scatter the ashes! I never want to see that stupid book again!”
Yui calmly pointed over Ivo’s shoulder. “Ivo, behind you.”
“Huh?” Ivo turned around. “Aaah!” He saw that a magic beast was about to attack him, and he was so surprised that his anger completely disappeared. Despite this unforeseen situation, he dodged the attack and landed a counterattack of his own, vanquishing the creature. His title of “prodigy” wasn’t an exaggeration.
Still, there were a lot of beasts for them to handle, even with him, Lyle, and Clois all working together. On top of that, they were all city dwellers, born and raised, so this was the first time any of them had ever seen a magic beast, let alone fought one. They sorely lacked experience, and they were struggling so much that they didn’t even have time to pay attention to Yui. Finney had a bit more freedom, and he cleverly maneuvered around the beasts, dodging attacks and occasionally using Lyle as a shield as he made attacks himself, but they were lacking the decisive advantage that might turn the battle in their favor. Luckily, thanks to Yui casting defense spells on all of them, none of them sustained any injuries, and they weren’t afraid of the magic beasts, so they didn’t freeze up or flinch.
Yui was thinking that she’d be able to use her application of defense magic as an excuse if Berg got angry at her for not participating. Still reclined against the wall, she rifled through the book for information on confectioneries in anticipation of the free time they’d have in a few days. Seeing her motionlessly sitting there, two of the magic beasts set their sights on her and charged, but their attacks were blocked by the defense magic. Without a single scratch on her, Yui continued to read. The beasts kept up the attack, clawing and tackling the barrier around her. Someone in her position would’ve normally been terrified at a scene like that unfolding right before their eyes, but Yui was unconcerned and kept flipping through the pages of her book.
Meanwhile, the other four were struggling more than expected. Ten minutes had already gone by, but they had only defeated around half of the magic beasts, and it seemed impossible for them to beat all the others in the time they had remaining.
“Yui, put your book down for a bit and help uuuus!” Lyle shouted.
“I don’t wanna.”
“An instant reply! Finney, do you have any more of that limited edition chocolate?!”
“Hmm, that was all I had. I wish I’d specified that she had to fight, not just participate.”
As they continued this exchange, Berg, in the seats with the other teachers, was shaking with rage. “Curtis! Take this seriously!” His yell echoed throughout the arena, but Yui pretended she couldn’t hear and ignored him. However, when a teacher from Dyne Academy spoke up, she couldn’t afford to brush off what he had to say.
“You over there, Curtis—the one making plans to see confectioneries in Bahal. In case you didn’t know, any groups that don’t manage to defeat the magic beats within the time limit will have their free time”—he paused for effect—“revoked!”
Revoked... Revoked... That word reverberated throughout Yui’s head. It took some time for her to completely comprehend its meaning.
“Ah, seriously?” Lyle exclaimed.
“Whaaat?!” Clois yelled.
Lyle had already secured dates with some older female students and was looking forward to going out with them; Clois was just as excited as Yui to splurge on sweets in Bahal. This news hit them especially hard. Many other students were also eagerly anticipating their free time, and a shock ran through the first-years whose matches were still yet to start. The upperclassmen had all defeated their targets within the time limit, so they remained calm, but the first-year students raised sorrowful cries of “I was looking forward to that!” and “It’s over...” and “I got an advance on my allowance for this!”
Meanwhile, during that commotion, time continued to elapse, and the teacher announced, “Thirty seconds remaining!”
Yui stood up. Finney saw Yui move and shouted to the other three, “Heeey, it looks like Yui’s finally motivated!”
They all turned to look at Yui, who was blasting away a magic beast that had been trying to break through her defense spell.
“Yikes. Ivo, Clo, you’ll get caught up in it if you don’t run away!” Lyle warned, taking the chance to put some distance between himself and the magic beasts. Ivo and Clois followed suit and quickly moved away from the beasts.
The beast that Yui had sent flying hit the wall, but it instantly got up and growled low, looking for an opportunity to strike.
“Ivo, I don’t care what it is, just fire off a wind spell,” Yui said, staring at the creatures.
“Got it,” Ivo replied.
Liefes were unable to activate any fire, water, wind, or earth spells. The spell Yui was trying to cast needed someone else’s support for it to work.
Yui had said she didn’t care which, so Ivo chose the weakest wind spell possible, which he could activate quickly with a short chant. Because he had prioritized speed over power, the spell activated and shot toward the beasts in the blink of an eye. In concert with his spell, Yui simultaneously finished chanting her own. Ivo’s weak spell instantly expanded—the wind turned into countless, invisible blades that rained down on the five magic beasts. The next moment, their bodies had been cut cleanly in two; they had been unable to take a single step to avoid their fates.
The students, teachers, and observers were so taken aback by how abrupt this was that the shock rendered them speechless. Some of them looked disappointed by the anticlimactic ending, and they just sat there, mouths hanging open. The other members of Yui’s group weren’t even happy that they had finished within the time limit. Their faces went stiff.
Ivo spoke first. “It was over in an instant...”
“We were struggling so much, and she just...” Lyle’s words trailed off.
“What was the meaning of all our hard work?” Clois asked.
“I guess she didn’t need us,” Finney said.
Those around Ivo, Lyle, and Clois constantly made a fuss over them, praising them as brilliant, as geniuses, or as prodigies. None of them ever let it get to their heads, and they never slacked in their efforts. Still, they might’ve felt some sense of pride in their strength, which they had gotten from listening to others’ compliments. But, while four of them had been unable to defeat even five magic beasts, Yui had wiped out the rest of their remaining foes in an instant. They had always been aware of the fact that Yui was stronger than them, and it wasn’t as if Yui hadn’t done it alone either—Ivo had helped—but this wasn’t a match that was all in good fun with no winners or losers. It had been a pure, real fight, and seeing the difference in their abilities had torn their pride to shreds like a dirty old rag.
Taking no notice of Ivo, Lyle, and Clois’s quiet depression, Yui earnestly celebrated having finished within the time limit. “Finney, it ended within the time limit, right? Right?”
“Yeah, I’m happy for you. But because of that stunt you pulled, three members of our group might not recover...”