Chapter 10: Crystallized [2]
Bang——!
Ilya attempted to evade the incoming object, but he was just a fraction of a second too slow. The projectile slammed squarely into his side, sending him staggering several steps across the field before he barely managed to regain his footing.
"Ukh...!"
"Slow," Vera remarked without the slightest hint of concern. "Any competent first-year student would have avoided that with room to spare."
Ilya steadied his breathing before turning toward the object that had struck him.
It was a massive rock, suspended in the air without any visible support. Vera seemed to be manipulating the projectile through what could only be described as telekinetic magic.
"Behind you."
Ilya spun around.
The moment he did, the floating boulder slammed directly into his chest.
Bang——!
"Ghk...!"
The impact sent him skidding several meters across the grass before he dug his heels into the ground to stop himself. He grimaced, rubbing the spot where he had been struck before glaring at Vera with clear dissatisfaction.
"That’s cheating—"
Bang——!
Before he could even finish the sentence, another boulder shot forward and smashed directly into his face.
"Kh...!"
Blood sprayed through the air as Ilya staggered backward. He reached for his nose while the taste of iron spread across his tongue.
He barely had time to regain his bearings before another rock whistled past his shoulder, missing him by only a few centimeters.
Vera remained seated atop the boulder, indifferent as ever.
"I knew you had reached rock bottom, but I didn’t expect this level of incompetence. Tell me, Ilya Belozersky, is this truly the culmination of all those years you spent with a sword in your hand?"
"I—"
Before he could answer, another boulder shot toward him.
This time, Ilya pivoted and brought his sword across his body in a clean defensive arc.
Crackle——!
The timing was flawless, and there was little to criticize about his posture. Yet the moment steel met stone, the difference in power became painfully apparent.
Without sufficient mana to reinforce his blade, the impact simply overwhelmed him, rattling his arms to the shoulder before driving him several steps backward.
"Tsk."
Ilya spat a mouthful of blood onto the grass.
There was no point wasting breath on words. Every second he spent speaking was another opportunity for Vera to attack, and she had already made it abundantly clear that she had no intention of allowing him the luxury of recovering, much less finishing a sentence.
"Pathetic," Vera continued. "You’re still thinking like a knight. Every answer you produce is one you’ve been conditioned to arrive at. That may impress the instructors in the Knight Department, but to a wizard, you’re painfully predictable."
Another boulder slowly rose from the ground before hurtling toward Ilya.
He sidestepped at the last possible moment, successfully avoiding the initial trajectory.
Before he could regain his footing, however, the boulder abruptly changed direction in midair, curving back toward him and crashing squarely into his ribs.
Bang——!
"Fuck...!"
The impact drove the air from his lungs.
Ilya collapsed onto one knee, coughing hard as blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.
Before he had even recovered enough to stand, another boulder was already hovering nearby, patiently awaiting Vera’s command.
"Like I told you," Vera said, "your Iron Reinforcement is a joke."
The boulder launched toward him once again.
Ilya poured as much mana as he could into his sword before bringing the blade down in a powerful slash.
The technique itself was correct, yet it no longer mattered. Before the edge could complete its arc, the boulder had already crashed squarely into his chest, launching him several meters backward before he landed heavily on his back.
"Ghk...!"
Unable to get up anymore, Ilya lay on the ground, blankly staring up.
His body was battered beyond recognition. His uniform was stained with dirt and blood, while cuts and bruises covered nearly every exposed inch of skin.
Every muscle ached from the repeated impacts, and even gripping his sword had begun to feel like a burden.
The worst part was how ordinary the magic itself actually was.
There was no elaborate spell formation, nor any devastating display worthy of a wizard.
Vera was simply moving rocks. Yet through nothing more than that mundane application of magic, she had rendered years of swordsmanship almost completely meaningless.
"...Then what do you want me to do? Goddamn it..."
"Kill yourself, Ilya Valentinovich Belozersky."
"...."
Still lying on the ground, Ilya slowly lifted his head.
High above him was a boulder unlike any Vera had launched before, large enough to blot out a portion of the evening sky as it descended with overwhelming momentum.
Even without measuring its size, he already knew the outcome. From where he lay, battered and unable to properly defend himself, no amount of Iron Reinforcement would save him.
Even a seasoned knight with flawless Iron Reinforcement would struggle to survive a direct hit from something of that size.
’Forget everything.’
Her words echoed through his mind.
To forget the sword, the forms—to forget the years spent believing that every answer lay at the end of a blade.
It was unthinkable.
Swordsmanship wasn’t just something Ilya had learned. It had become the foundation upon which his entire identity had been built.
As a child, before everything had fallen apart, he had once been hailed as the pride of House Belozersky, defeating children several years older than himself with talent that seemed limitless.
’Forget the sword.’
Back then, everyone in the North was so convinced that he would one day become the greatest knight the North had ever produced.
’Kill yourself, Ilya.’
Time itself seemed to slow.
As the enormous boulder descended from above, frost began spreading across the ground around Ilya.
He slowly raised a hand toward the falling mass, almost as though he were telling it to stop, while a pale mist escaped from his lips with every breath.
Seeing this, Vera leaned in with amusement.
"Oh?"
Ilya had once entertained the idea that he might have had talent for magic.
Naturally, nothing had come of it.
Even so, there had been a reason he had believed such a thing in the first place.
Many years ago, during one of the North’s annual Winter Sports, Ilya had become separated from the others and wandered alone into the mountains.
There, a massive bear emerged from the snow and charged straight toward him. Convinced he was about to die, the young Ilya had thrown up his arms and squeezed his eyes shut, silently accepting what he thought would be his final moment.
But... to his surprise, nothing happened.
When he opened his eyes again, the beast stood completely motionless before him, frozen solid.
Cr–Crackle——!
Just like that bear from years ago, the massive boulder plummeting toward him was instantly swallowed by crystalline ice.
Frost spread across its surface before the entire mass burst apart, exploding into countless frozen shards only a fraction of a second before it could crush him.
The shards glittered, reflecting the evening light as countless crystal particles drifted through the air.
Still lying on the ground, Ilya silently watched the frozen fragments descend around him like snowfall.
Through that curtain of crystals, a familiar figure gradually came into view.
"...."
Vera stood over him, calmly looking down at the battered young man still lying on the ground.
"Well done."
Ilya coughed before spitting another mouthful of blood onto the grass.
"...You really don’t pull your punches, Senior."
"Would you prefer I babied you instead?"
"No. Do what you think is right."
He had nothing to lose anyway.
A bitter chill slowly spread throughout his body. Every breath that escaped his lips condensed into white mist, while an uncomfortable lightheadedness gradually overtook him as though the warmth was slowly being drained from within.
"This must be your burden."
"...Ah?"
Even speaking was difficult.
"A Fallen Wizard’s Domain inevitably consumes its user," Vera explained. "The more they draw upon it, the more aggressively it erodes them in return. Power has a price, and for Fallen Wizards, that price is themselves."
Ilya slowly lowered his gaze toward his own hands.
"...."
His fingertips were turning a faint purplish hue as frostbite crept across his skin, spreading little by little. He could feel his body temperature plummeting at an alarming rate, while even the simple act of breathing became increasingly difficult.
"Haa... Haah...!"
The world around him gradually blurred. Before long, even Vera’s figure became impossible to make out, and with his consciousness fading into darkness, Ilya finally closed his eyes.
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