The Extra’s Academy Survival Guide - Chapter 106

Fwoosh!

With one horizontal swing from the massive spear, a violent gust of wind swept upwards.

Lowering my posture and bringing my center of gravity down, I held on so my body wouldn’t falter from the strong wind.

“I’m coming.”

It wasn’t even an attack. Ziggs was just repositioning that massive spear.

Kicking off from the air, he landed right in front of me. At the same time, he turned his body around and swung his spear, leaving behind an afterimage in the shape of a semi-circle.

It was a force that was impossible to take on. It wasn’t even possible to lessen the blow.

I managed to dodge the first attack by basically throwing my entire body down onto the floor, but the movements I made to dodge were so large that I couldn’t turn them into a counterattack. The momentum was still on Ziggs’ side.

He then fixed his grasp on the spear as he came at me. However, my entire body was still low to the floor. The massive spear, coming towards me at a tremendous speed, was something I couldn’t avoid.

Since it was an attack that I couldn’t avoid, I had to come up with a method to defend myself and minimize the damage as much as possible instead.

Splash!

Schunk!

As if I had finished analyzing my entire situation in an instant, Lacia the Lioness, who was hiding in a nearby puddle, jumped out from the manifestation of a water source and blocked Ziggs’ spear.

However, it would be more appropriate to say that she had been stabbed than to say that she had blocked the spear.

With a loud roar and a splash in the water, Lacia’s summoning was forcibly canceled.

“Keuk!”

Wincing at the sound of her roar as it pierced his ears, Ziggs accurately understood the intention of the lioness that had sacrificed herself to stop his attack. It was all for the sake of creating a miniscule chance.

A spear as large as his had an incredibly wide range of attack, and an enormous power to boot, making it extremely difficult to deal with… However, it has a weakness.

It became more difficult to attack the closer one got to it.

Quickly taking advantage of the very slight chance that Lacia had given me, I forced a close-range melee battle that would be difficult for Ziggs to attack me with while using his spear. Once I managed to successfully shove my dagger up close to him, it would become difficult for him to take full advantage of the spear’s strengths.

However, Ziggs was a master of duels that always excelled in any type of combat situation.

Clang!

The surge of magic power quickly gathered into Ziggs’ left hand—which had been empty before—became an sword with an appropriate length, easily defending against my attack.

Casually swinging a spear larger than his body in his right hand, he held a sword in his left hand to deal in close combat against his enemy’s attacks.

I clicked my tongue as I gathered magic power to castIgnite. A blazing fire then erupted between me and Ziggs.

However, without a single change in expression Ziggs swung his spear with one big swing, making the flames of magic power his own by covering it with his own magic power.

“I see that most of your attacks are focused on blocking your opponent’s line of sight, then attacking them from a different direction.”

There were various different tricks to close the gap in skills with your opponent. However, there was still a limit when it came to closing a gap of pure, overwhelming power. In particular, Ziggs was an opponent against whom such tricks would rarely work.

Even if it might have worked the first time, since he allowed it to figure out his opponent’s fighting style, the second or third time would be a completely different story.

“It’s certainly better to bombard you with a difference in pure firepower than to fight you in psychological warfare, Ed.”

Once again, the magic power that was coming from Ziggs’ body started to create another weapon. From daggers to two-handed swords, all different kinds of swords began to float and swirl in the air.

Advanced Magic,Mana Armament – Sword Dance.

It was an applied magic that combined both telekinetic magic and the basic advanced magic,Mana Armament. The weapons that were created didn’t need to be wielded by the caster’s hand, but instead would dance in the air by themselves before starting to press down on the opponent.

Kaang! Kaang!

What looked to be over twenty different swords gathered in one place, rushing down.

I had already lost my main power, Lacia the Lioness. And by now, the amount of magic power I had consumed had also piled up enormously. It was a terrible situation.

Regardless, if I were to get hit by even one of those numerous swords, it would be instant defeat. I clenched my teeth as I drew out magic power from my body and once again, with all my might, cast the intermediate fire magicPoint Explosion.

Not just one.

If I couldn’t get rid of all those swords, I was bound to eventually get hit by one. That was why I cast almost more than twenty Point Explosions at once. One by one, I aimed them at each of Ziggs’ swords, exploding them in an instant.

Boom! Boom! Boooooooom!

What the intermediate magicPoint Explosionlacked in magic power efficiency was made up for in its incredibly fast casting speed.

In other words, relative to the amount of magic power it took, the power of it wasn’t as strong. Of course, a normal person would still take critical damage with a single blow—but in the middle of combat against a real opponent, it would be rare for them to be defeated from a single blow.

After firing the same technique—which had lackluster magic power efficiency—many times over, my magic power naturally started to hit rock bottom.

Fwooooosh!

And there was no way that Ziggs, the runner-up student in the magic department, wouldn’t realize that fact.

From the smoke that rose from the explosion magic, his spear flew. Since his field of view wasn’t completely clear, it had barely missed.

Paak!

Not missing the opportunity, I gripped the spear that came through with two hands. A brief struggle ensued as my hands trembled.

“You’ve run out of magic power. You don’t even have the magic power left to cast a beginner defensive spell. It’s over for you.”

It was an accurate judgment.

“Now, I’ll finish this.”

Ziggs clenched his teeth as he swung his spear with two hands, shaking mine away. My body flew through the air for a while before I managed to land far away from where I just was.

Ziggs once again used the advanced magicMana Armamentto summon various and numerous weapons. Against Ziggs, who had completely mastered telekinesis magic and had all those knives in the air dancing around him… Going up against him in close combat, anybody would struggle.

Not only that, but I was a magician that had run out of magic power completely. Even using beginner magic would have required me to clench my teeth and completely focus my mind. It was a fact that the match was already over.

A duel was something that always needed to be taken seriously.

Because that was Ziggs’ belief, he would definitely deliver a final blow on me—one that would determine his victory.

A practice match was always like a real fight. No matter how different your capabilities might be, you must never underestimate your opponent. You always needed to acknowledge them and do your best at all times.

That attitude of Ziggs’ really was impressive… I finally had to take out my last resort.

Clanggggg!

“What…?”

I took out the ‘Shock-Enhanced Wave Ball’, squeezing it tightly until it exploded.

Certainly, I was completely out of magic power—but I suddenly had a huge amount of power radiated from me. All of the swords that Ziggs had summoned had fallen apart. That was the power of magic engineering.

Fwoooosh!

In the duel, I hadn’t used any magically engineered items. I had tried to win without having to use such external means.

However, if my opponent was going to treat me with such sincerity, it was only polite for me to use all means that I could in return.

“With this much…!”

All of the swords that Ziggs had summoned and used telekinesis on were blown away by the wave. But it still wasn’t enough to blow away Ziggs’ body. Since there was a limit to my magic power resonance, it would be difficult to surpass the level of destructive power that I could achieve through the magically engineered items I made.

“Just one… Just one decent hit in…!”

Ziggs’ combat experience told him that intuitively.

A magician that had run out of magic power. An opponent that couldn’t even use defensive magic.

Once he gets close to me, it is a sure win.Knowing that fact clearly, Ziggs jumped forward with his spear.

And with that, it was time for me to make my final move.

Boooom!

But Ziggs’ attack was blocked with defensive magic.

“What…?”

It made sense that he was confused.

Ziggs’ attack was strong enough, to the point that it couldn’t be smoothly blocked with just any level of magic power efficiency. Yet, if you invested a lot of magic power all in one defensive spell, his attack could be deflected at least once.

But the problem was… I didn’t have the magic power to attack, so how could I have cast defensive magic?

“Ugh!”

What was in my clenched fist was ‘Glast’s Phoenix Ring.’

At that point, the greatest power that I could utilize was summoning the high-ranking wind spirit ‘Merilda.’

It was possible to achieve by drawing magic power from Glast’s Phoenix Ring. Of course, after using it for a certain amount of time I would have to take the penalty of not being able to use even a single drop of magic power.

In a mere practice match, there wasn’t any reason to take on such a penalty by fully summoning Merilda.

However, when using a high-ranking wind spirit, you didn’t always have to utilize the extreme method of fully ‘manifesting’ them.

Many students believed that the only way an Elementalist could utilize spirits was by manifesting them to make them fight… but in actuality, that wasn’t the case.

For example, instead they could simply cast a spiritual skill that would allow them, as an elementalist, to use a part of their ability much more easily.

They could also activate passive skills to help assist in combat.

In addition to all of that, there was the spirit’s innate skill… For example, I could be provided with Mugg’s magic to temporarily increase my fire resistance. Or Lacia’s magic, which created a water source on bare ground that I could freely use…

By reducing the magic power that was being consumed, you could utilize a spirit’s skills through auxiliary means.

Of course, the issue was that Merilda was a strong spirit from the beginning. So, it would still require quite a bit of magic power to even utilize just her innate skill. Still, in terms of magic power, it was much better than having to fully ‘manifest’ her.

To take advantage of a skill at that level… it would be possible to achieve by lowering the amount of magic power being taken. Still, it wasn’t a small amount…

“Keuuuuk!”

Since my opponent was coming at me with all their might, it was only polite for me to fight back with all I had as well.

Fwooosh!

Without completely understanding how my magic power, which had been completely at rock bottom, had suddenly started to rise again… Ziggs was struck by a massive gust wind.

Maybe it was because it was difficult for him to stand up properly, but he looked back at me, trying to keep his center of gravity as low to the floor as possible. And then, at that moment…

In front of him a girl caught his eye.

A pure white dress with white hair and golden eyes.

[Is this appearance the limit of your magic power when manifesting me? Well, the environment is much worse than when you called me from the Substitute Altar. At that time, Lucy was also there.]

[Still, this much… You made quite the remarkable progress, Ed.]

Before Ziggs could figure out what was going on, the girl swung her slender hand into the air.

The high-ranking wind spirit Merilda’s innate skill,Updraft.

A magic that took everything in the area, throwing it into the air. It also took away one’s control of their own body.

Ziggs also had quite the skill when it came to wind magic. He tried to escape from Merilda’s influence with his own magic power, but…

[It would be better for you to not put up any meaningless resistance.]

It would be arrogant to try and match Merilda’s elemental wind magic. The high-ranking wind spirit Merilda had the upper hand in all types of wind magic.

Paaak!

Ziggs’ body floated in the air, leaving him completely defenseless.

No matter how strong a warrior he might be, it was still difficult to fully demonstrate any power while being held in the air. His position was also locked, so there wasn’t any way for him to dodge.

“Keuk!”

The moment Ziggs, who had quickly grasped the situation with near superhuman reflexes, was about to cast attack magic—

Booooom!

I cast the intermediate fire magicPoint Explosionone more time.

That time, it was a direct hit.

[Alright, it’s been finished neatly.]

Smoke rose from the aftermath of the magic spell. Merilda, who wasn’t completely in the form of a girl, patted her skirt several times.

“I’ve never seen you manifest in this form, Merilda.”

[The magic power efficiency in this form is much better, right? Of course, there are still all sorts of restrictions that come with it.]

“……”

[Anyway, I wanted to avoid turning into this form as much as I could these days, since some strange stalker has been sticking around and following me. Also, there’s no fur on this body, so it gets cold. And there’s no tail, so it’s strangely difficult to balance myself. Also, why does the mouth have to be so small? It feels as if my cheeks are clenched every time I speak. Shouldn’t a mouth normally be ripped open all the way to the sides of your cheeks to properly open it? Right?]

She put both index fingers into her mouth as she spread her cheeks wide, making a strange noise.

It was hard to sympathize with her as a human when she spoke about the benefits that came with being a wolf…

Boom!

From the smoke, Ziggs held a rapier made of magic power as he shot out like a bullet.

In a completely defenseless position, where he couldn’t even take a defensive stance, he took a complete hit from my intermediate magic. And yet, he was still able to keep fighting.

It seemed certain that he had cast defense magic with those unbelievable reflexes of his. Even if it wasn’t all of it, he was still able to absorb some of the impact.

The reason his weapon was now a rapier instead of the massive spear was probably because he no longer had the strength to lift that spear.

Boom!

With part-animal senses, she avoided his rapier. But right after, the magic power’s form changed as Ziggs’ weapon turned into a large, long sword.

Then, the moment the startled Merilda began to respond, the tip of Ziggs’ sword had already been thrust against my throat.

“……”

“……”

[……]

A moment of silence. Ziggs was gasping for breath, the tip of his sword unmoving.

As for me, I had already used up all the means of magic that I possibly could. I even used all the tricks that I could think of. The amount of magic power that I could draw out wasn’t much, so I had basically run out completely.

The result of letting a melee warrior come into close-combat range without having any magic power left.

I then raised my arms in the air as I quietly spoke.

“It’s your victory, Ziggs.”

Clang!

As soon as I said those words, the swords from Ziggs’ hand fell. Then, when the effects ofMana Armamentdisappeared, the swords turned back to magic power and disappeared.

Ziggs sat still on the floor for a moment, breathing heavily. He looked completely exhausted.

“Huff. Huff… I learned a lot. It’s hard to believe that you trained this much in just one year… For me, who has been training my entire life, it’s quite hard to believe.”

I also had a difficult time standing up properly due to the exhaustion that was taking over my body.

It felt as if I had pushed my body to the utmost limit.

***

“…Don’t you think you two overdid it…?”

By the time Yennekar came out of the cave in the direction of the rocky area, Ziggs and I were both lying flat on the floor.

Both of us were sweating profusely as we tried to calm our bodies down. We looked like two boxers that had just finished a spar.

I quickly chugged the water that Yennekar had given me as I looked up at the sky, where the sun was slowly starting to set. I then wiped away my sweat.

It wasn’t too hot, thanks to the cool breeze of the late spring. It was also nice to hear the crashing of waves that I could hear every so often.

Then, for about twenty minutes, I continued to lie down and enjoy the wind.

Ziggs, who had managed to calm himself and gather some energy, quickly raised his upper body as he spoke.

“This is news from inside the school. This is something that I happened to hear from the faculty members while I was visiting Trix hall to change A class’ schedule.”

Looking back, Ziggs did say that he came here because he had something to say.

“Kadek and Nox have escaped. The two criminals that have been labeled as your murderers, Ed.”

“……”

“I don’t know how they managed to break out with the strict security in Trix Hall, but… Anyway, it seems that the school hasn’t made an official announcement yet. It makes sense, since any confusion going around would only cause issues with the search. For now, they’re just going to try and track them down.”

Ziggs let out a deep sigh.

“Because of that, the allegations against Tanya, claiming she had ordered the assassination of you, are getting harder to clear as time goes by.”

“Yeah… I hear you.”

“Since you’re trapped here and forced to live in seclusion, you can only make partial judgments based on the information Yennekar comes to give you ever so often. I don’t think you fully understand just what the situation at school is like these days, and what kind of public backlash Tanya is facing.”

He came because he had something to say about Penia and Tanya.

Maybe the words Ziggs would say next would be the main point.

“Princess Penia called me, so I went to visit the royal residence.”

“…I guess, in the end, Tanya did go to the royal residence to hide.”

“Yes. Based on Tanya’s testimony, she had asked me various other questions. She asked if I really did believe that Tanya wasn’t the one behind your death, and why was I sitting still without actively testifying that fact to the school…”

When Lucy was attacking Ophelis Hall, Ziggs was the one that defended Tanya more than anyone else.

From Penia’s point of view, the fact that Ziggs was keeping silent during the situation seemed strange.

“I stayed silent. I argued that I couldn’t testify with only inconclusive information. Also… because right now, Ed, you are risking your life in your own way.”

The reality was that there was an assassination attempt against me. If I didn’t take additional measures now, it wouldn’t be strange for my life to fall back into danger. In other words, I was at a crossroads of life and death.

Knowing the seriousness of my situation, Ziggs had closed his eyes and pretended to be ignorant. Even if it was unfair against Tanya.

“However, with Kadek and Nox escaping, the situation changed. If they report the situation to House Rothstaylor, they will believe that you are dead.”

It was rare for Ziggs to express his own opinion.

“Considering the fact that the Rothstaylor Mansion is quite far away from Acken Island, and the fact that the school grounds are somewhat closed off from everyone else… It’ll take a long time before they will be able to double check that you’re dead. And that’s if Tanya doesn’t directly make a report through mail.”

That was right. No matter how great House Rothstaylor was, they wouldn’t be able to send anyone else to Acken Island, on the outskirts of the empire, just to confirm my death when it had already been reported.

If they wanted to confirm my death, they would have to borrow the power of rumors. Rumors that ‘the descendant of House Rothstaylor, who had been excommunicated on Acken Island, was still alive~’

And for such a rumor to spread outside of school, it would have to be during the vacation season, where the people inside of Acken Island finally left for the outside world. If I was lucky, it wouldn’t be until long after the vacation season ended that the rumors would finally reach House Rothstaylor.

From there, they would send someone directly to check if I survived. They would have to plan another assassination attempt and find justification to send even more personnel to Silvenia’s school grounds… And repeat the entire process again… It wouldn’t be strange for the entire process to take half a year, even if they were to start immediately.

It would take about that much time. And by that time, House Rothstaylor would have already started its downfall in to the storyline. Since the entire house would be in a crisis, there was a high chance that they wouldn’t even have the time to worry about me.

“Anyway, what I wanted to say is that… I met Tanya at the royal residence.”

It felt like the story he was saying wasn’t connecting, but for the moment, I continued to listen to Ziggs.

“You met her in person?”

“Yes. I guess since I was the only one that protected Tanya in such a dire situation, she ended up trusting me quite a bit.”

Ziggs paused for a moment as he took in a deep breath before continuing the story.

“She didn’t look great. It makes sense, imagining Tanya’s school life… it would be stranger if she weren’t devastated. Yennekar, you should also know it quite well.”

“Yeah… That’s right.”

Yennekar put down the water she had given me as she slowly spoke.

“I’ve already told you, Ed, but she’s preparing for the student council president election while being investigated by the school. The public opinion of her is also at its worst, with people labeling her a murderer. Yet, she is still managing to hold on with her fist clenched. Maybe it’s because Princess Penia continues to support Tanya even though she’s nothing more than a political burden for her. Princess Penia’s probably doing it because she felt a sense of pity at seeing her like that.”

“It’s just as you said, Yennekar.”

Ziggs sat down on a rock as he looked up at the sky, which was slowly turning red.

“She’s been pushed up against the corner for too long. It’s a burden that a girl of her age shouldn’t be able to bear. I think she will collapse soon.”

That was what Ziggs had come to say.

“There will be an announcement of the candidates for the student council president this evening. It’ll be held on the first floor of Obel Hall, next to the student’s square, originally home to the student council. There, in front of the podium, she will have to deal with the student body’s heavy criticism and suspicion of her.”

After saying that, Ziggs didn’t open his mouth anymore. He seemed to think that saying any more would be too much.

“……”

I lay still, looking up at the sky thinking.

It had a huge meaning to me that Tanya, not Penia, was the one running for student council president.

If Princess Penia became the student council president, she would eventually take a hostile stance against House Rothstaylor in the future.

Then there was Tanya, a member of House Rothstaylor, who could become the student council president.

It was impossible to predict what sort of changes that would cause in the future. And the original timeline, which had already begun to twist, would begin to completely break off from that point on.

I felt like I had reached an important turning point.

The choice was mine, and I was responsible for all the consequences that would follow.

If I took this chance to defend Tanya, who was being framed, it would only strengthen her position as student council president—making her a truly unstoppable candidate.

Publicly, she was being supported by Princess Penia. Under the surface, Lortel was also pushing for her.

It would be strange if she weren’t elected.

That meant… the flow of the future that should be maintained at all costs… would be completely twisted and broken, by my own hands no less.

However, Tanya had already suffered too much.

She might just be a one-time villain that acted as a rival to Princess Penia…

Now that I was in a position that faced the ridiculous changes in the flow of fate… looking for the cause of it all, it was none other than the existence of a person that shouldn’t be in the storyline any longer.

It was none other than Ed Rothstaylor’s fault. My existence was the cause of all it.

Of course, I also had my own reasons. It was unintentional, and from my point of view, it was a matter of life and death.

The situation had become like that all because of my fierce battle to survive. I was not a nice enough person that I would risk my life while thinking of others.

However, even so…

The only person in the vast world that shared the same blood as me… Was it right to leave such a girl, who bore no sins, to face the storms of fate like that? At first, I thought of how wonderful it was to have a younger sister that I had shared the Rothstaylor name with.

When I weighed the flow of the storyline that had already begun to twist against that, which side should the scale lean towards?

If I managed to use the people around me and the skills I had, it might be possible to somehow persuade or induce Princess Penia into running for student president.

Whether it came from the guilt she held towards me or the hostility she has towards House Rothstaylor … There were plenty of ways to utilize and provoke her.

What I had suddenly come to realize was that I hadn’t done any of those things.

“Ed.”

“You don’t have to say any more.”

I looked up at the sky quietly. The sun was setting.

The most important choices in life were often made that way. All at once, all of a sudden.

Did he say that they were announcing the candidates for the student council president that evening?

“……”

I slowly lowered my head… and spoke softly.

“Yeah… It’s about time for me to end this secluded lifestyle.”

***

Suddenly, the girl’s old memories started to bloom.

As was the case with old memories, the light tended to fade.

Still, gathering each scene one by one and putting it into a single memory, it wasn’t all that bad a memory.

An aristocratic family, admired by everyone in the Empire. The three siblings went out to the flower garden, holding hands.

Arwen, Ed, and Tanya hummed a song… as they plucked flowers, tying them into their hair, they admired the beautiful scenery… They held hands as they enjoyed the fresh scent of spring.

In a way, you could even call it her last memory. The life Tanya faced following that was full of pressure and responsibility.

It seemed like it was truly one of her happiest moments. Opening her eyes, the dull reality weighed down on her shoulders heavily.

On the first floor of Obel Hall, the eyes of those that stared at Tanya were all full of darkness and suspicion.

Despite the horrendous charge of murder against her, she was trying to take the seat of student council president with her teeth clenched… Her eyes were like those that were obsessed with obtaining power.

Tanya stood right there, in front of the hostile crowd.

All because she was determined to not run away from it all.

Even with no way out, she continued to move forward.

Many people had said that it would be impossible for her to become student council president in such a situation, but Tanya didn’t care about that.

On a rainy day at Ophelis Hall, she had witnessed many individuals that had challenged the impossible.

It might seem futile, but there had to be some worth in that desire of hers. Believing in that, she stood firm at the podium.

The public’s constant booing was nothing compared to the hardships of the life she lived.