Chapter 57 - Duty to Bear [2]
“S-Simon, I don’t think you know what you're talking about...” Momo asserted, fiddling with her fingers.
“There’s no way! She was probably showing off!” Simon vehemently denied.
"Did you forget how you panicked when—"
"Shut up, Cyan!"
“E-Eeek…!” Momo flinched at Simon’s raised voice.
“Hey now, no fighting,” Diane said as she clapped her hands together.
“Simon, apologize."
“W-Why should I do that?"
It took him quite a while, but under Diane's cold glare, Simon eventually folded.
“Sorry… is that what you wanted?” He scratched his head in guilt.
“Hehe, that’s good,” Diane replied as she approached Simon and patted him on the head.
...
...
...
‘…Wow, this guy is just really stupid.’ I watched their comedy routine in silence.
They were so wrapped up in their own little world that they seemed to forget about me sitting in front of them.
It made me feel a little lonely.
「Don't worry, Aria. I’m here.」
'Hmph.'
...This was supposed to make me feel bad, but hearing that actually made me feel better.
Besides, I was enjoying the show anyway.
Since they had the audacity to ignore my presence, I eventually learned their names and such.
The annoying one is Simon, a student with yellow-orange hair who seems to get easily agitated when provoked by others.
Then there's Cyan, who tends to provoke Simon into his usual tantrums. He has navy blue hair and fancy ear piercings, and judging from his looks, he’s likely a playboy.
The pink-haired one who’s always timid is Momo, who has pink... fluffy animal ears?
I haven't explained much yet, but Tide, a nation located outside the Ancrel continent, is, in simpler terms, Imperial Japan—but with feline people.
Which means animal ears, yes.
So an Imperial in Demiurge? That's rare, for sure.
The fourth one in the group is the ever-so-wise Diane, the one who turned Simon docile. She's most likely the one who keeps the group together.
Lastly, the one watching from the sidelines was Eshana. She has white hair, brown skin, green eyes, and intricate tattoos all over her body.
I don’t have anything much to say about her when she remained silent during the group's constant yapping.
All the people in front of me each have their own unique gimmicks.
...Wait, isn’t this just a new set of main characters?
—Crunch Crunch…
Ooh, fun.
“Hey, Simon. Uh, did you forget why you’re here in the first place?” Cyan patted him on the shoulder and pointed at me.
Since I've been watching for a couple of minutes now, I looked behind me to see if there was anyone else.
But Cyan was, in fact, pointing at me.
“Nom nom... ah, it's fine, go back to what you were doing, go on.” I kept munching on the popcorn Erina gave me for some reason.
It took them a long time to realize that I was lying on the ground like a sack of potatoes.
“A-Ah! You! I forgot about you!” Simon called out, returning to his usual rowdy persona.
“Well, sorry for being such a background character, jeez.” I stood up. It was time to get this over with.
“Simon, right? What made you want to duel me to the point where you came here uninvited?”
"Uninvited? Are you playing dumb right now?" He scowled, and a vein appeared on his forehead.
"This place used to be our training ground, but ever since an anonymous person rented it out, we’ve been evicted," Eshana interjected, explaining the situation to me.
...Wait, seriously?
“Oh, I, uh… didn’t know about that.” I looked away, trying to appear clueless.
“So do you know the reason behind it…” Momo suspected me of lying. I must be that easy to see through if she found out.
Attempting to contact the perpetrator, I conveyed a message to Erina to find out what was going on.
‘Hey, Erina! What’s the meaning of this!?’
I thought these training grounds were rarely used since no one ever came by.
But Erina had prevented anyone from entering?
「…」
“Hey, answer me! Erina!” I yelled, but she remained silent, a clear admission of her guilt.
Frantically panicking internally, Simon looked at me with an intense gaze, determined to finish what he started.
“I don't care about that; all that matters to us is how you did something to our teacher.”
—Crumble...!
Magma began to rise from the ground, and everyone stepped back.
“Teacher? You mean Scarlett?” I recalled that Scarlett had become a teacher in Arcadia during my conversation with Camellia.
"Don’t you dare say her name!” Simon yelled at me, unnecessarily agitated.
“She’s always muttering someone’s name, often spacing out in silence as if something is bothering her.”
Memories of the time I mentioned my old name in front of Scarlett resurfaced.
The first instance was when I seized a brief opportunity to turn the situation to my advantage during the fight.
The second occurred during the trial, where I brought up those who had owned the Azure Blossom years ago, now residing in Kleinford.
"We tried to do whatever we could to cheer her up, but nothing worked.”
The five of them had weary expressions, truly worried for their teacher.
—Ving…!
Simon shoved his hand directly into the magma, and in that smouldering heat, he unleashed a giant, bulky sword the size of me.
Like Scarlett's <Explosion>, Simon's was also a rare variant of fire: The <Magma> Magic Art.
'Interesting...' I pondered, as a single graze will welcome me into a world of pain.
“Over and over again, she kept asking for forgiveness, towards one person... that failure!” His voice kept rising, funnelling all his hate towards one person.
Not against me, but my other self.
A name I didn't expect to come out of his mouth.
“That failure, Kuro Historia—he will never understand the pain our teacher went through.”
…
…
…
Bullshit.
So what you're telling me… even after being erased from this world—
—It's my fault again?
“Ha… Hahaha…!” I laughed out loud, unable to believe what came from his dirty mouth.
“…What’s so funny?” Simon gazed at me as if I were insane.
“Haha…! No, it’s nothing. I just feel sick from that horrible excuse of yours.”
I thought this would be a fun time, but I don't find it very fun anymore.
“—Hah?” Even more veins appeared on Simon's forehead.
“Listen to yourself. Are you sure it’s right for you to try to sympathize with something you aren't even aware of? Do you even know what happened to her?”
—Voom...!
Ichor began to wrap itself around my body, forming a protective layer.
It was still in its development phase, but it was enough to shield me from the heat emanating from the magma.
“You…! Don’t—”
“—Shut your damn mouth. Did you come here to duel with me? Or cry about something I don't care about?”
With my unstable emotions, I looked at him with one intention in my mind;
To understand the difference between us,
“So hurry up and come at me, you sack of shit.” I spread my arms open, inviting him to attack me first.
—Fling!
In a fit of intense rage, Simon used mana strengthening and boldly charged at me without saying another word.
"Good, that's what I wanted," I chuckled, finally hitting a nerve.
To Simon, this was no longer a duel—but a fight to the death.
—BOOOM!
“Ugh…! Simon!!! What is he doing…!?” Cyan and the others shielded their eyes from the dust kicked up by the explosion.
At that moment, the group began to worry about how this would turn out.
Everyone had witnessed how Simon had grown at an astonishing rate after they had been defeated and humiliated by their teacher.
In just a few days, Simon had become almost as powerful as a 2nd rank magician, a remarkable feat for someone his age.
With his talent and magical ability to control magma, the three of them were concerned about whether Aria, their nemesis, was still alive after all of this.
Amid the chaos, there was only one person who perceived the situation differently: Eshana.
Eshana understood that it wasn't Simon who had become much stronger, but rather Aria, the monster in human skin.
—Cling…! Clatter!
'W-What?! How did she block that?!' Simon exclaimed as he attempted to cut off her neck, only to find a barrier stopping his advance.
'I can't pull it back out...!' Simon tried to pry his sword away from the wall, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't come off, even with mana strengthening.
As the smoke cleared, Simon saw his sword encased in molten gold, the same material that had knocked Cyan and Momo out in an instant a week ago.
At this time, Simon thought about the strength of Scarlett, his teacher with Aria, their nemesis.
Magic Art, the technique Demurgians use, greatly enhances their proficiency in a particular type of magic while simultaneously diminishing their abilities in other forms of magic.
When a magician becomes exceptionally skilled in their Magic Art, it evolves into a concept, automatically elevating them to the rank of a 1st rank magician.
With Scarlett's <Destruction> as an example, Aria Cyth Magic Art was an evolution of <Alloy>, yet he couldn't figure out what it was without information.
For a near 2nd rank magician, Simon, to go against a potential 1st rank magician, Aria...
He has to remain cautious at all costs.
—Krrr!!!
As he struggled to retrieve his sword from the unknown material, he attempted to melt it away, but it was ineffective.
Magma was supposed to melt anything and everything.
However, Simon didn’t know that Ichor was beyond just any metal.
It was stronger than mythril, one of the rarest materials on Earth.
“Too slow, too weak. Try harder next time,” Aria taunted, smirking at Simon.
The five of them, including Simon, had watched the trial when it was in session. They even witnessed her little 'performance' toward Vincent that day.
For Simon to be the target of her mischiefs this time...
He wanted to bore a hole in her face with everything he had.
—FWOOSH!
“UGHAAA!!!” Simon cried out as he was sent flying after being struck in the stomach.
Although nothing hit him directly, a powerful gust of wind, much like Diane's magic, sent him tumbling.
“Wind magic...?" Diane tilted her head, wondering how she could use another magic art.
Everyone else was in shock at how easily Simon had been blown away.
Unable to retrieve his greatsword, he softened his landing by creating magma from his hands.
“Hey, I know you can still fight. Get up.” Aria looked at Simon with an eerie gaze.
Unlike the aloof behaviour she had shown, the Aria before him was cold and calculating, transforming into a different person as soon as he mentioned the name Kuro Historia.
—Rubble Rubble…
“Damn it…!” Simon stood up and wiped the blood from his nose.
—Blub Blub…!
Magma once more rose on the ground, creating more greatswords out of magma.
Channelling his overwhelming amount of mana, he fortified himself and dual-wielded two greatswords, preparing for an all-out offensive.
Simon admitted it—he underestimated Aria too much.
What he was up against was nearly at the level of a 1st rank magician—a monster.
“I’LL KILL YOU!!!”
—VING…!
Simon dashed toward Aria for the second time. This time, he learned from his mistakes and slammed his swords into the ground.
—Blub Blub…! VOOOM…!!!
Like a volcano erupting, magma exploded violently from the ground, engulfing everything in its path.
—Ding…!
<Magma> and <Ichor> collided with a loud sound, the result of an immovable object meeting an unstoppable force.
“What…?!” Simon was stunned to see that Aria was doing the same thing, creating a tide of Ichor to counter the magma.
“Fine, let’s see if you can handle this!” Simon dashed to another side and swung his two swords, creating more waves of magma from the ground on all sides.
—VROOM! VROOOM!!!
It was an unrelenting torrent capable of melting anything.
Even if the magma didn't pierce through that mysterious golden substance, the heat was enough to turn the area into an unbearable sauna.
But little did Simon know, his magic was useless against Ichor, which was its worst possible matchup.
—Whoosh...!
“Haaah… haaah…” Simon stood still, questioning whether this was enough to deliver the finishing blow against her.
“Is… is it finally over?” Momo whispered, wondering if Aria was still alive.
After that barrage of attacks, Aria was submerged in magma. No one knew if she had survived.
The silence stretched on for a long time... until a faint, audible sound emerged from deep within the molten monolith.
“!!!” Simon felt a chill run down his spine as he realized something was wrong.
—VING!
To end the duel as quickly as possible, Simon dashed forward, thrusting his two greatswords to unleash everything he had.
Simon sincerely wished that he had already won, but he knew that it wouldn't end easily like this.
If Scarlett considered this girl dangerous enough to deem everyone else deadweight, then she had clearly been holding back the entire time.
—Crack…!
But it was too late for Simon to notice that.
—BOOOM!!!
A deafening blast erupted from the cage, shooting upward.
This force was unlike the gust of wind that had hit him in the stomach; this one was far more powerful, breaking through the magma and everything surrounding it.
Everyone's ears were pierced by the extremely loud sound, as if the arena was struck by lightning.
'What the hell...?' Simon thought to himself, unable to comprehend what was unfolding before his eyes.
Feeling a primal fear similar to what he experienced facing Scarlett, he now felt the same against her.
A primal rage, born only from individuals who were willing to risk it all.
Simon's eyes locked with hers.
Her golden, unusual eyes were like an abyss he couldn't fathom.
That same abyss seemed to stare back at him, instilling fear within him.
“You never learn, do you?” Aria said, unscathed from his barrage of attacks.
Without a hint of killing intent, she held a gun and pointed it directly at Simon.
Snapping back to reality, Simon quickly lifted his two swords and shielded himself from the incoming onslaught.
—Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
“Ugh…!” Simon managed to deflect three bullets, but one of them struck his leg, wounding him.
'It's fine, I can recover from this...' Simon thought as he attempted to eject the bullet by expelling magma from his body.
But something was wrong; he felt a great chill all over his body.
When he had deflected her bullets, his body was encased not in magma, but in ice.
Baffled by this bold provocation, Simon scoffed, laughing at the idea of using <Ice> against a magician of <Magma>.
“This… won’t… hold me!!!” With no difficulty, Simon broke free from the ice.
Feeling more confident, his mood quickly plummeted when Aria taunted him, looking at him with disdain and mockery.
“Did Scarlett not teach you to never charge into the unknown? Are you stupid~?"
—Snap...!
“GRAAHHHH!” Simon snapped, uncontrollable with anger.
Using all of his mana, he aimed to take her down as quickly as possible, dashing around the training grounds to flank her.
If Simon were to shoot her with heavy shells of magma, Aria would create a shield he couldn't pierce.
If Simon had gotten closer to strike her down with consecutive strikes, Aria predicted his move and shot him with the same gust of wind that threw him away.
With his greatest offence, Simon found himself powerless against her formidable defence.
Simon was getting more desperate; his attacks became more erratic, yet Aria remained calm, her eyes moving at speeds her body couldn't keep up with.
Soon, everyone realized something was amiss.
If Aria could shoot bullets that immobilize Simon, why wasn't it being used against him, but to create distance between the two of them?
Simon felt his instincts screaming at him as a strange energy emanated from her gun.
Eshana, watching from the sidelines, sensed it as well.
In an attempt to save Simon from a devastating blow, Eshana rushed toward him, shouting for him to forfeit the duel.
"SIMON!!!" She screamed.
But as if they were both out of their minds, Aria, who was already so close to Simon, leaned in to whisper in his ear.
“Next time, before you start talking shit because of your warped delusions….”
—Voom...!
A surge of wind magic rolled from her gun, filled with minimal mana, yet still more potent than what she had used before.
—Kachick.
Then she pulled the trigger.
“Know your place.”
And blasted Simon away, many times stronger than before.
—BOOOM…!
“This is why I hate kids,” I muttered as I looked up at the sky and sighed.
If there’s something that I have noticed from this fight, it’s that I get agitated too easily, huh?
It makes me no different than this guy, which annoys me a little.
“S-SIMON!!!” Diane screamed in horror as she rushed over to check on him.
The others followed after her and ran towards him, all battered and bruised, pressed against the wall.
They all seemed to share the same thought, looking at me not with disrespect but with fear.
If they hadn’t obeyed their teacher’s orders that day—
—All of them would have been dead by now.
