The letter arrived on Monday morning.
A folded note had been slipped under the door of my room in the third-year dormitory.
After school, I have something to discuss at the training grounds. Come if you can.
— Selena Aldrick
It was brief. The phrasing—”if you can”—felt less like an absence of coercion and more like a provocation. It could also be interpreted as a threat: if I didn’t come, she would resort to other means.
I went about my day as usual.
I attended classes, read documents in the library, and had a research meeting with Edvard. There had been no progress on the information leak. Suspicion of Selena persisted, but a week had passed without any concrete evidence.
I still didn’t know if today’s summons was related to that matter.
After school, I headed to the training grounds.
The training grounds were an outdoor plaza adjacent to the academy’s west wing. Even though it wasn’t a time slot used for regular classes, a crowd had gathered around the square. Rumors must have spread. Word had probably gotten out that Selena and the third-year dark attribute student were going to settle things at the training grounds.
When I entered, all eyes turned to me.
“He’s here.” “That’s the dark attribute one.” “Selena-sama summoned him.”
I heard the voices. I paid them no mind.
Selena was standing in the center of the plaza. She turned when I entered.
“You came.”
“You told me to.”
“I see.” Selena gave a thin smile. “I’m glad you’re obedient. It would have been anticlimactic if you’d run.”
She seemed to think I had the option of running away. I didn’t bother to correct her.
“I’ll be direct.”
“Go ahead.”
“I want you to leave this place.”
It wasn’t what I had expected.
“Leave?”
“Leave the academy,” Selena said. “Stop being involved with Edvard’s research and disappear from here.”
The surroundings buzzed. “Such a thing…” “Selena-sama, that’s…”
“The reason?”
“A dark attribute spellcaster being next to Edvard disrupts the order of this academy. If someone like you is recognized as a researcher, the value of the dark attribute will be unjustly inflated. That is nothing but detrimental to the magical world.”
“Someone like me?”
“A person who carries a gun, belongs nowhere, and doesn’t understand the order of light.” Selena’s voice was cold. It wasn’t emotional. She was simply dismissing me. “There’s even the possibility your dark magic is affecting Lian. The mere fact that a Saintess candidate has a dark attribute sister is problematic in itself.”
She brought up Lian’s name.
“Lian has nothing to do with this.”
“She does. As long as you are here, Lian will be close to darkness. That is unbecoming of a Saintess candidate.”
“—”
I started to say something but stopped.
Getting emotional wouldn’t be wise. But the mention of Lian stuck in my craw. Criticism of my research was one thing. But using Lian to apply pressure was another matter entirely. An unforgivable feeling burned hotly deep in my chest.
“I assume you want to settle this with magic?”
“Yes.” Selena raised her right hand. “If you lose, you leave quietly. That’s all.”
“Sounds like a public execution,” someone laughed.
“No way he can beat Selena-sama.” “This is too one-sided,” voices overlapped.
I scanned the surroundings once. There were over twenty people. I looked for Edvard, but he wasn’t there.
“Understood.”
I accepted her proposal.
Selena narrowed her eyes. “You’re not refusing. I think that’s an unwise choice.”
“I have no reason to refuse.”
“Brave words.” Selena laughed coldly. “No matter how much a dark attribute boasts, it means nothing before the light. Besides, your magic grades are mediocre, and mine are second in the year. You understand, right?”
“We’ll see when we try.”
The surroundings stirred. “He talked back.” “He’s got guts.” “But against Selena-sama, it’s too reckless.”
We stood facing each other. The distance was about ten meters.
Selena initiated first.
It was light magic. Her magical power was refined and dense. The spell expanded a wall of light in a fan shape. It wasn’t about pushing back the opponent’s magic; it dominated the space itself. The wide range made it difficult to evade.
Skilled, I thought.
But I didn’t move.
I raised my right hand. I deployed an interference field. The wall of light touched the boundary of my dark magical power. The light entered the darkness. I absorbed it. It vanished.
The surroundings fell silent.
“Huh, it vanished?” “He absorbed it?” “The light magic disappeared…”
Selena’s eyebrow twitched.
“High affinity against the light attribute.”
“It’s a characteristic of the dark attribute.”
“I knew that in theory,” Selena said. “But this is the first time I’ve seen it. Though it might be a fluke.”
I noticed she chose the word “fluke.” She probably didn’t want to admit it.
Selena changed her spell. This time it was a convergence-type spell. It gathered light magical power to a single point and released a high-density beam of light. A point, not a surface.
I chose defense again.
I focused the interference field to a single point. The beam struck the center of my dark magical power. I interfered with the structure of the light magical power from within. I disrupted the origin point of the spell. The beam scattered into mist.
“It vanished again?” “He blocked it?” “Did he break the spell from the inside?”
Selena stopped.
“You broke it from inside the spell. A theory confirmed through research with Edvard.”
“With Edvard,” Selena repeated. Her voice had a thorn in it. “Don’t speak his name so lightly. It’s not a name someone like you should stand beside.”
“I’ll never get used to hearing ‘someone like you,’ no matter how many times I hear it.”
“I’m just stating facts.” Selena changed her spell for the third time. “You won’t be able to block the next one.”
The surroundings held their breath. “Selena-sama’s third spell…” “She’s getting serious.”
Selena raised her right hand toward the sky. Light magical power began to converge. Its density increased. To one point, two points, three points. It was a multi-point simultaneous convergence spell, deploying multiple light sources at once.
Even if I could block them one by one, if they came from multiple directions simultaneously, I couldn’t focus the interference field to a single point. In theory, it was a spell difficult to defend against head-on.
“This ends it,” Selena said. “Admit defeat gracefully and leave this place—”
“Black Mist Haze.”
I chanted.
It was a single word.
The area was enveloped in black mist. The light vanished. Selena’s spell, the surrounding voices—everything sank into darkness.
“Wha—”
Selena’s voice cut off.
I closed my eyes.
I didn’t need to see. Dark attributes are sensitive to presences. Even in the darkness, I could discern the outline of my opponent’s magical power. I sensed Selena trying to align her spell’s aim. But spells reliant on vision don’t function in the mist.
I locked onto the outline.
I fired. One shot.
“Ugh—”
A short sound escaped.
I dispelled the mist.
The dark purple mist dissipated. On the cobblestones, Selena had collapsed. She was clutching her right flank. Her face was pale.
“I suppressed the power,” I said. “It won’t kill you. Though I imagine it hurts a lot.”
The training grounds fell deathly quiet.
No one said a word.
“…I lost.” Selena placed a hand on the cobblestones. She tried to stand but couldn’t. “I lost… to you. I can’t accept this…”
“Whether you accept it or not is irrelevant to me.”
“Silence.” Selena raised her face. Anger was in her eyes. Not the frustration of defeat, but anger at having her beliefs overturned. “Losing to someone like you… To a dark attribute…”
“Selena-sama lost,” someone murmured.
“To a dark attribute…” “What was that black mist… that magic…” “He even used a gun…”
The murmuring returned.
I was looking down at Selena.
She needed to be taken to the infirmary. I couldn’t leave her like this.
“Someone,” I said to the surroundings. “Please contact the infirmary.”
Edvard came running.
He must have heard the rumors; he was out of breath. He stopped when he saw Selena.
“Selena—”
“Don’t come.” Selena said. Her voice toward Edvard was different from the one she’d used on me. It was stiff, but there was something else beneath it. “Don’t look, Edvard. Don’t look at me like this.”
Edvard stood frozen, looking at me.
“I suppressed the power,” I said. “I’ve called for the infirmary.”
Edvard nodded. “…Thank you.”
“No need for thanks.”
I turned on my heel.
As I left the training grounds, the students made way. Their eyes were different now. They looked as if they were witnessing some inscrutable terror.
“Even Selena-sama couldn’t win.” “Is that what dark magic is like?” “A gun inside black mist… is there any way to counter that?”
Voices followed behind me.
I heard them.
But I didn’t look back.
When I reached the corridor, the voices grew distant.
In my hand was the weight of the gun I had used. The power was suppressed. That was true. But I had also fired. That was true. When Lian was mentioned, my hesitation vanished.
That was all.
When I went down to the library, Lian was there.
She was sitting across from my usual spot, a book open. She looked up and saw me.
“You’re late.”
“I had a small matter to attend to.”
“I see.” Lian closed her book. “Sister.”
“What?”
“You look tired.”
“Do I?”
“You do.”
I pulled out a chair and sat down. I opened a document.
Lian reached her hand across the table.
I reached out. Lian placed her hand over mine.
It was warm.
“I won’t ask what happened,” Lian said. “But I’m here.”
I couldn’t say anything.
But I didn’t pull my hand away.
The dark purple lighting fell quietly.
And—
From that day onward, Lian disappeared from the academy.