“Watch this.”
“Sure, sure! I’m totally watching!”
I took the piece of wood that Amelia-san had prepared for me and activated my latest spell.
“Dark Gluttony.”
Instantly, a little spot of darkness appeared above my palm. I felt a rush of mana leaving my body and felt a little faint after the spell was cast.
This is about all I can manage for now, but it’s the result of two months of hard work. I seriously poured so much time and energy into developing it… It’s not just some half-baked trick.
I dropped the piece of wood into the darkness with my other hand. It was slowly swallowed up until it disappeared completely.
“Ah…ahh… Aaahhh!”
Yep. My Dark magic can affect not just mana but physical matter now. This is a massive step forward.
I couldn’t help but smile.
“‘Darkness swallows all…’ So, this is what they meant,” Amelia said excitedly. “The legends were right! They were true all alonnng! Oh man, this is super messed up, Luke!”
As I’d expected, Amelia was so overjoyed that it creeped me out a little bit.
…More than a little, actually. But heck, it’s thanks to her that I’ve managed to complete this spell. She isn’t popular with the other students for her onomatopoeia-centric teaching style, but the things I learned in her Study of Elemental Magic: Practical classes really helped me out.
“This is all I can do for now, but someday I—um…h-hey.”
Amelia’s eyes looked strange, almost lifeless. A bit of drool escaped the corner of her mouth as she scribbled on her memo pad at breakneck speed and continued to mutter to herself.
She keeps mentioning “the many interpretations” and the “effect on others,” but that muttering is just terrifying to behold.
“Hey, you listening?” I asked, lightly tapping her on the shoulder.
“Oh! Sorry. Ah ha ha…I got a bit overexcited there…”
“…”
She’s clearly a really, really talented person—that much isn’t up for debate. It’s just…there’s something broken inside her, I guess? But she’s always been like this, ever since the day we met.
“Come to think of it, don’t you have a rank duel today, Luke?”
“Yeah. Not much of an opponent.”
“…He is an upperclassman, though, isn’t he?”
In terms of the whole academy ranking, I was in 81st place.
My magic research has settled down a bit, so I figured I should get to doing some rank duels…but to be honest, I’m not that excited by the idea. I already have information on my opponent, and I even attended one of his rank duels, but it was nothing special. He’s just a Water magic user. He looked like he was good at dueling, but overall, his magic wasn’t really that advanced. Not that any of that matters for a Dark magic user such as myself.
I suppose I have to admit that there are some students in the academy who do look a bit more interesting, though.
“Oh! Isn’t it almost time for your duel?!”
“Yeah. I should get going.”
“It’s just like you to be so relaxed about all of this, Luke…but I’ll be cheering for you, okay?! I-I’m coming to watch…heh heh…”
There was an indescribable, crazed ecstasy in her eyes.
How exactly is she going to feel as she watches me fight?
In my mind, I knew that there was no chance that her feelings were as pure as just wanting to cheer me on.