37. Soul Orb (2)
[Survivors 12/100]
The match had reached its final stage, and the tense survival game known as the ‘Top 10,’ carrying pressure equal to the finals of a tournament, had begun.
In the feverish atmosphere, the spectators shouted their cheers to support the Top 10 players, and the players, as though repaying them, should have been displaying all of their skill and magic in the tournament, but…
Truly, regrettably enough,
this year’s Top 10 players were receiving no attention at all.
Because all of the audience’s attention was fixed on the battle between Baek Yuseol and the dark mage.
In fact, on most of the screen doors installed throughout the stadium, it was not the battles of the Top 10 players that were being shown, but the battle between Baek Yuseol and the dark mage.
Overwhelming viewership.
Had there ever been a fight this heavily watched before?
—Boom-boom-boom!!
Each time black flames exploded on the screen, some people let out groans, while others squeezed their eyes shut.
No one cheered.
Now, everyone knew.
That fierce battle unfolding on the stage was real.
For some reason, the match was not being stopped, and the announcer had lost his words.
……It was far too unfair a fight.
To think only one side could inflict actual damage.
And the dark mage was clearly of a fairly high level, because it seemed as though Baek Yuseol was being gradually pushed back.
There appeared to be no hope.
Baek Yuseol, who was starting to lose ground little by little, seemed to be trying to respond by mobilizing artifacts, but he still could not land any meaningful hit.
—Fwoosh, boom!!
A fierce exchange that crossed from earth to sky.
Dark mages fundamentally possessed physical abilities far superior to those of humans, allowing flexible movement, while Baek Yuseol freely pierced through four-dimensional space through his Blink technique……
No one said it aloud, yet more than a few found themselves thinking it anyway.
That it was more thrilling and exciting than any match they had ever seen.
Certainly, other magic battles, with their overwhelming one-shot destructive power, were fun too.
They were definitely fun, but…….
the problem was that the fight between those two was far more entertaining.
A battle between two figures who ignored the limits of terrain, flying through space itself and clashing in ways no one had ever seen before—it was an astonishingly rare spectacle.
Even though it was a dangerous situation in which lives might truly be at risk, it was only natural that the audience, their hands drenched in sweat, kept reaching into their popcorn tubs.
The two fought in a highly three-dimensional way, and the location kept changing.
It looked as though Baek Yuseol, who had no choice but to take one-sided attacks, had exhausted himself first and was running away, but even that had its limit.
And of all places…… the place they arrived at was the edge of a cliff, a sheer drop.
“Ah……”
“Damn it, what are they doing not stopping the match right now?!”
“Isn’t that really dangerous……?”
Around then, people began expressing their dissatisfaction openly.
The player they had been cheering for was now truly in danger of dying.
The spectators hurled eggs, popcorn, trash, and whatever else they could at the Stella staff while jeering, but the staff could not even react and had no choice but to stand there and take it in silence.
Then, in the middle of that—
the booing suddenly died down.
“……Huh? Wait.”
“What is that……?”
Inside the stage…… something like pure white radiance was spreading high into the sky.
Looking closely, it was lightning.
But what made it different was that it was not one bolt, but hundreds…… thousands of bolts crashing down.
Every year, each match had produced different natural disasters, but the great calamity ‘Curse of Hailges’ had never appeared before, so the audience was utterly overwhelmed by its colossal majesty and crushing spectacle and could only gape.
Even just watching it from afar made their legs go weak, and Baek Yuseol, with that catastrophe behind him…… stood at the cliff’s edge and flashed the dark mage a grin.
—…!!
A roar, and then silence.
The disaster occurring inside the stage was so enormous that its sound failed to reach the audience, leaving only a screen that had turned blank white, like a sheet of paper.
“Ah……”
It should have been the moment for cheers to explode at the successful extermination of the dark mage, yet for quite a long while, no one said anything.
Truly, for a long while.
Just as the thought suddenly crossed his mind that whiteness had covered the whole world, Berunkal squeezed his eyes shut.
It was a kind of instinct.
To protect his retinas from the blaze of light that burned as though it would incinerate the heavens themselves.
To flee from the shower of lightning strikes that crashed down as though they would tear apart every living thing on earth.
Everything beneath the sky was buried in white.
And when he opened his eyes again—
[You have died.]
“Ah……?”
He had been sent back to the waiting room where eliminated survival participants gathered.
Berunkal blankly looked around.
“Dark mage Berunkal. You are surrounded.”
Dozens of Stella’s elite magic warriors stood with their staves aimed at him, staring with openly hostile eyes.
“Ah, hell……”
He faltered and tried to step back, but there were mages behind him as well.
“Berunkal. You are granted no rights, no authority, and no voice whatsoever.”
“If you resist, you will die painfully. If you do not resist, you will die less painfully. The choice is yours, so choose well.”
“W-wait a second……. I think there’s some kind of misunderstanding……”
Before he had become a dark mage, Berunkal had genuinely been an elite student.
Though he had been unable to grow any further because he was blocked by the wall of 4-Class, he had still lived his whole life being treated with respect wherever he went.
He tried to use the prestige of his school somehow to wriggle his way out of the situation, but—
“A misunderstanding? This may be the first time I’ve ever seen a dark mage this stupid. You don’t even know what you look like right now, do you?”
“Ah……?”
Only then did Berunkal touch his forehead.
The sharp horn jutting from it was unmistakable proof that he had chosen of his own will to become a dark mage.
In cases where someone had been forcibly turned into a dark mage, they could sometimes be restored through purification magic and return to society……
but a mage who had chosen to become a dark mage by making a contract with the Reverse World was executed without exception, no matter what.
“Did you enjoy yourself in Magic Survival, tormenting students? If so……”
One of Stella’s magic warriors pressed a staff to Berunkal’s throat and said:
“Why not try enjoying yourself with us now?”
The eventful interschool tournament came to an end.
Naturally, Stella was met with a tremendous storm of protest.
A dark mage had intruded in the middle of the competition?
This incident shattered Stella’s pride into pieces.
A dark mage had ruined the main event of the interschool tournament, which was practically the biggest festival of all.
Separately from that, however, the awards ceremony was still held.
—Magic Survival, first place: Raymel.
—Magic Survival, second place: Samaran.
Archmages from the Magic Society, Stella’s principal Eltman Eltwin, the Elf King, the Dwarf Emperor, and other figures before whom merely standing was itself an honor took part directly in the ceremony.
But the expressions of the players receiving medals and trophies were not bright at all.
Even though they had won, they were receiving almost no attention.
Baek Yuseol had not only put on a one-man show throughout Magic Survival, but had even exterminated a dark mage?
If Baek Yuseol had wanted to run away, he could have done so as much as he pleased.
But knowing that if he did, the other players would definitely suffer harm, he held out to the very end, and at last chose elimination alongside the dark mage so that the other players could finish the match safely.
Though he had been an overwhelming favorite to win, he threw all of that away and fulfilled the duty of a magic warrior!
That alone was why people were not joking when they said the true winner of this tournament was Baek Yuseol.
And so, once all the other awards had been given and it was the final turn, his name too was called.
—Stella cadet Baek Yuseol, Special Award.
At Eltman Eltwin’s direct summons, Baek Yuseol lifted his head.
Since he had almost no aftereffects from the battle, he had been able to attend the awards ceremony right away. He looked perfectly fine, but inside he felt very differently.
‘Ugh, what a pain…….’
To be honest, he had been planning to use this incident as an excuse to stay hospitalized for about a week.
But perhaps because it had happened in a virtual world, not a single injury remained.
He had been discharged immediately for the ceremony, and in the end, he wound up receiving an award he never even wanted.
In the first place, the reason Baek Yuseol had entered Magic Survival was because he wanted the rewards given up to tenth place.
But thanks to his rotten luck, the exact moment he was eliminated at the same time as Berunkal, he was recorded in eleventh place, so the tenth-place reward was completely out of reach.
Of course, a special award had been prepared for him instead……
but what did that matter, if it didn’t give him the reward he had actually wanted?
“Ugh……”
With the eyes of tens of thousands of spectators and hundreds of elites from over thirty prestigious schools upon him, Baek Yuseol dragged himself up to the podium.
The award platform, crafted from transparent magical glass, was needlessly beautiful, and all the more dazzling in contrast to his own gloomy mood.
‘Still, I saved a lot of people…….’
Positive mindset. Positive mindset.
Thinking the best thoughts he could, he finally stepped onto the podium, where Eltman Eltwin was waiting with an expression that looked faintly depressed, yet bright at the same time.
“Good to see you here, Baek Yuseol. I’m glad it didn’t turn into a larger disaster thanks to you.”
“I only did what had to be done.”
At a glance it sounded like the usual sort of exchange—one conventional line answered with another—but at least those two were sincere.
Baek Yuseol had genuinely wished for the other students to come to no harm, and Eltman truly felt grateful that he had prevented this incident from escalating.
It was none other than Eltman himself who had hurriedly arranged the special award, using the audience as an excuse.
Of course, even the process of creating that special award had not gone smoothly.
No matter that he had exterminated a dark mage, the Association had shown some reluctance, since that was, after all, something a magic warrior was simply supposed to do.
But for some reason, Oranha, aide to the Elf King, had strongly supported Eltman’s opinion, and thanks to that, the special award had been approved.
“You’re only a first-year, and yet you’ve already done more than I expected. Once again, I find myself thinking how fortunate I was to meet you that day.”
By ‘that day,’ Eltman was probably referring not to the current Baek Yuseol, but to his meeting with the ‘Baek Yuseol of the past.’
‘Hmm……’
That memory tried to rise in his mind again, but he forcefully pushed it aside.
He had no desire to dwell on memories that belonged to some other Baek Yuseol who was not himself.
“I’ll be counting on you from here on as well.”
After saying that in a small voice, Eltman then raised his voice with mana and called out loudly:
—A dark mage dared to intrude upon the place where all mages’ pride and glory, and the testing of magic itself, are gathered! Yet our magic warriors did not yield, and even in such an unfair situation they stood firm, fought back, and won. I daresay they have succeeded in proving the spirit of mages!
At that, all the spectators stood and broke into cheers and applause.
Just as the Association had said, it was only natural for a magic warrior to eliminate a dark mage.
But the situation had been special.
In the middle of a grand festival, with any student potentially at risk, Baek Yuseol had sacrificed his own match itself for the sake of the safety of his competitors.
And on top of that, his age made him the youngest participant in Magic Survival….
If that was not something special, then what was?
—Therefore, I shall award a Special Prize to cadet Baek Yuseol! Everyone, rise from your seats and welcome him with thunderous applause!
The cheers were even louder than they had been during the winner’s ceremony, and there was no helping the way the faces of the students who had received medals stiffened as if they had bitten into something foul.
Baek Yuseol accepted the award with a largely blank expression, but the exploding cheers startled him.
He had not expected such an intense response.
For someone who had lived an ordinary life, this kind of reaction felt very unfamiliar and awkward.
‘Well…… good is good, I guess.’
This kind of reception was not unpleasant, after all.
As a gesture of acknowledgment, he waved once toward the audience, and the cheers grew even louder.
Then, at the very moment Eltman was about to place the medal around his neck—
“……Wait.”
Someone who had, at some point, approached Eltman from the side stopped him.
It was Oranha, aide to the Elf King.
The moment Eltman Eltwin recognized his face, his hand halted and his expression hardened, and as the situation began taking a strange turn, the cheers too gradually died down.
Oranha swept his gaze once across the assembly, then turned it back to Baek Yuseol.
And then he said, bluntly:
“There is no doubt that cadet Baek Yuseol’s achievements today were admirable. Despite his young age, he displayed the spirit of a magic warrior without reserve, and once again, I have found myself impressed by Stella’s excellent educational philosophy.”
He let that linger for a moment, then turned to Eltwin and said:
“However, we of the fairy race wish to raise a question about his true identity.”
The instant those words were spoken, most of the mages in attendance found themselves predicting what would come next from Oranha’s mouth.
Even so, Eltman asked back in as calm a tone as he could manage.
“……A question? Did you say a question?”
“That is correct! I question why the mages have no questions at all about his identity. Because from him……”
With a snap of Oranha’s fingers, clusters of light formed in the air, and small translucent fairies appeared, circling through the sky.
The fairies scattered white dust over Baek Yuseol, and every grain that touched his body turned gold and spread in shimmering bursts.
At a glance it looked like celebratory fireworks of blessing, but what that golden dust signified was none other than the aura of a divine beast.
Only then did a number of mages realize what Oranha meant, and their eyes widened in horror.
“N-no way…….”
“If the divine beast aura is that dense…….”
“You mean… a Spirit Killer……?”
A human could never carry divine beast aura of such concentration.
No matter how high-ranking the divine beast with whom they had made a contract, a human’s own mana scent could never be fully erased.
But there was one single way.
‘To consume a spirit’s heart.’
In return, they would be cursed as a Spirit Killer…… but the mage who consumed the heart would gain immense longevity and the spirit’s abilities.
“What…….”
Having understood that much, Eltman shouted in confusion.
“Stop this! There is still no proof! A Spirit Killer would possess a tainted soul and an aura no different from that of a dark mage—how could such a thing go unnoticed?”
At that, Oranha smiled.
“That…… is something you yourself have already seen, have you not, Principal? Dark mages can now hide their power, and their technique is sophisticated enough to deceive even you.”
Having been struck squarely at the core, Eltman’s eyes widened.
He glared at Oranha with his own mana flaring, but he could not stop him here.
If he did, the controversy surrounding Baek Yuseol would only grow larger.
Oranha slowly turned his head,
and looked toward his king.
‘Why……!’
Kkotseorin was staring this way with both hands covering her mouth, looking utterly flustered.
This was surely not the development she had wanted, but it could not be helped.
For political reasons, Stella needed to be pushed down at least once.
In the first place.
Eltman Eltwin had never pleased him either.
That disgusting human had dared to approach his woman again and again under the excuse of friendly diplomacy, meeting her alone on many occasions, and that had irritated him deeply.
‘Elves are enough with only elves.’
It would be best if, through this opportunity, she severed her ties with humans entirely and went back to living in the forest, where the fairy folk alone could live in harmony once more.
“Really? Baek Yuseol’s a Spirit Killer?”
“I can’t believe it……”
“But hasn’t he always seemed a little strange?”
“Exactly. He has too many accomplishments for someone so young. It’s almost like some older person got young again and started pretending to be a kid…….”
“I personally think it’s true. This is where his real identity gets exposed.”
As spectators and mages alike began murmuring, Oranha deliberately let a pause hang there.
He wanted to fan their suspicions.
And when that tension had risen to its peak, Eltman spoke urgently.
“There will be nothing to gain from this. As I said earlier, the inability to distinguish dark mages does not belong to me alone. The elves are equally subject to that same limitation. On what grounds are you accusing a cadet of being a dark mage?”
To accuse a mage of being a dark mage without reason was an act that severely damaged the target’s honor, and was therefore strictly forbidden.
For that reason, Eltman could not understand Oranha’s reckless behavior at all.
And then, suddenly, something flashed through his mind.
‘No way……!’
And as though that dreadful suspicion was correct, Oranha smiled broadly and declared:
“Grounds. A fine word. Unlike you human mages, the elves possess a special ability that can discern the soul of a person. And we placed that very treasure—the ‘Soul Orb,’ which embodies that ability—within cadet Baek Yuseol’s possession.”
When it had gone that far, Eltman could say no more.
As he looked at Baek Yuseol, who even now still offered no defense at all, Oranha said:
“Now then. If, as Principal Eltman claims, you are innocent…… then the Soul Orb will emit a clear light. On the other hand, if your soul is corrupted, it will be deeply stained.”
He pointed with his index finger at Baek Yuseol’s chest.
“Let us see…… would you take it out? That pendant hanging around your neck.”
Baek Yuseol silently lowered his head, removed the necklace, and took out the pendant.
Click!
He opened it,
revealing the object inside.
“See! As expected, you’re a dark ma—huh?”
Oranha, who had been about to shout with the expression of a man finally seeing the moment he had waited for arrive, cut himself off at the burst of light.
A brilliant radiance,
bright enough that even ordinary people had to shield their eyes with their hands.
It was…… proof that Baek Yuseol possessed a soul as white and pure as a spirit or an angel.
