Vasileo of the Magics Department was attending an elective class.
His elective was “Understanding Formula Simplification.”
Vasileo had long been interested in faster magic construction—namely, high-speed casting.
That was why he admired and was drawn to the magic manifestation speed of Elodie and Frondier.
He had volunteered to become Frondier’s disciple and did his utmost to fulfill a promise Frondier himself had never made—that if he won Makia, he could receive instruction from Frondier.
'That monster bastard, what kind of guy is that?'
He lost to Pielot in the semifinals.
Of course, in the finals Pielot’s opponent lost even more miserably than Vasileo had.
Since Ias, the original favorite to win, was absent due to being in the same class as Pielot, Vasileo had advanced to the semifinals quite easily. If the bracket had been reversed, he might even have reached the finals.
But no matter how good your draw, you would have faced Pielot at some point, so either way winning was a stretch.
'Now I see why Ias forfeited.'
A transfer student with such overwhelming skill he flattened Ias in one blow. He’d heard the rumors, but hadn’t imagined that level.
Given the 1:1 nature of sparring, a mage is generally at a disadvantage against a warrior.
Combat mages aren’t originally trained for anti-personnel combat. If anything, they’re akin to self-propelled siege weapons. They’re trained to topple armies, ramparts, and hulking monsters.
Because large damage requires time for formulas, a vanguard is indispensable.
So within the format called sparring, mages are fundamentally disadvantaged. Even so, Vasileo reached the semifinals.
With well-honed basic spells he bound the legs of warriors trying to close in, and with barriers he protected himself to secure sufficient time for casting.
At that point most warriors give up. If they recklessly try to evade, they step out of bounds; if it hits, it hurts like hell.
But against Pielot, this orthodox flow didn’t work at all.
Vasileo’s control spells didn’t slow him down, and the barrier shattered in a single strike.
The fight didn’t last long, and the tip of Pielot’s sword settled at Vasileo’s throat.
'......I wanted to see that drawing technique, too.'
He’d heard the transfer student used a bizarre draw-cut technique. Of course, it was a wooden sword with no scabbard, so he only took the stance.
A strange idea—using draw-cut in a frontal engagement. Normally he’d have thought it foolish, but even Ias got taken down by it.
'Well, if even Ias can’t dodge it, how could I. Even if I wanted to see it, I couldn’t.'
The moment you tried to watch, you’d be in the infirmary.
Vasileo sighed and looked out the window.
'......Didn’t even win, so I can’t learn from Mr. Frondier. Damn life.'
Of course, Frondier had never once said, “If you win, I’ll teach you,” nor had he said he wouldn’t teach him if he didn’t win. It was doubtful Frondier even knew of the promise Vasileo spoke of.
Vasileo muttered softly so the teaching instructor wouldn’t hear.
“Break’s coming up soon and I still don’t have a single hint about the teacher’s magic......”
But then.
What’s that?
Vasileo spotted something shining in a corner of the outdoor training grounds beyond the window.
'......What is that?'
From here it was too far to make out even the shape. Something just glittered.
Only, next to that something, a spear was floating, and in front of it stood Frondier—the very person Vasileo had been thinking about.
'Don’t tell me that’s the pattern I saw at the gym......'
No matter how much he focused his eyes, at this distance he couldn’t see clearly. But Vasileo sensed it.
That glittering thing placed before Frondier—without a doubt it was what he’d seen back then at the gym.
Vasileo heightened his mana sensing and concentrated on Frondier.
'......Looks like he’s unfolding a formula.'
Then he was in the middle of manifesting a spell?
'No, if it’s magic, it should ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ be composed of formulas alone. What are that spear and the shining thing beside it?'
The moment Vasileo thought that—
Pop!
KWAaaaaaa!!!
Off in the distance where Vasileo was looking, the jewel and the spear shattered at once and blended into each other.
Crackle, kzzzzzzzzzt!!
At the same time a colossal spark resounded. Not a single bolt of light, but lightning and sound emitted consecutively on the spot.
Vasileo had seen something like this before, though its appearance was different.
'Same as that time!'
When Frondier had created a flame of staggering brightness, the magic at that time had also been born in succession on the spot.
“What was that? What’s that sound?”
“W-wait, this feeling, there’s a spell somewhere......!”
“That mana is ridiculous! What is it? Grand magic? A demon attack?”
The classroom instantly grew noisy. The instructor trying to quiet the students saw the sight outside and was struck speechless.
“Look over there! It’s Mr. Frondier!”
“I c-can’t see well! What’s that floating in front of him?”
“L-lightning magic, maybe....... Chain Lightning? Thunderclap?”
“If that’s Thunderclap, then the Thunderclap I use is.......”
The students babbled among themselves trying to identify the magic placed before Frondier.
But no answer came.
Magic doesn’t grow stronger just because you pour in more mana. Any mana beyond what the intended magic requires simply disappears.
In other words, by looking at how much mana is used, you can roughly infer what spell it is.
But the amount of mana Frondier was now employing was an absurd quantity they had never once seen.
That he was using that much mana was surprising in itself, and yet the mana wasn’t disappearing. He was unfolding a spell that required that much mana.
'......There was a spear at first. And the glittering thing.'
The only one who could make the closest guess was Vasileo, who had noticed Frondier a bit earlier.
'The spear and the glitter shattered at the same time and mixed. No doubt about it. Those two were used in the teacher’s magic formula.'
“Shattered” was an illusion to the eye. In reality, the shape had changed.
From that, Vasileo understood two things.
One, that the glittering thing he first spotted was almost certainly the pattern he’d seen at the gym; and two, that the spear in front of Frondier wasn’t a real spear either.
There’s no way a weapon itself could be used for a magic formula. It had to be magic that looked like a weapon, or a mass of mana.
'It’s not just being absorbed as mana. Otherwise it wouldn’t need to be spear-shaped.'
Either it uses the shape of a spear, or it uses the concept of a spear.
Vasileo guessed it was one of the two—
Both were correct.
Frondier stretched out his hand toward the flashing swarm of lightning before his eyes.
He thought,
'Just letting energy scatter anywhere is meaningless.'
He had anticipated that fearsome magical energy would erupt.
But this way, it meant nothing. The reason he had taken out a spear.
Even if Atjie’s Spear had lost its form, its concept would have been combined into the formula.
For now, it simply wasn’t under control because the power was too much to handle.
'It’s Heukcheon’s turn.'
Aware of this, Frondier spread Heukcheon around. Gradually, Heukcheon gathered upon the lightning aggregate.
Heukcheon moved like his hands and feet. Mingling with that otherworldly mana, the lightning gradually darkened in color.
Krazhik! Kzzzzzzzt!
Frondier opened his hand and slowly grasped the lightning in his palm.
“Khk!”
The first sensation was pain.
“U, ugh......!”
And then enormous pressure. Even as he mobilized all of Heukcheon to attempt control, the force was no joke.
Ordinarily, a spell created by the caster does not threaten the caster, but this time, ignoring that rule, it writhed against Frondier’s control.
'What a trash game! What kind of spell injures its own caster! If you’re going to break a rule, pick just one!'
If magic by nature threatened its own caster, he wouldn’t feel so wronged.
Why wouldn’t it listen at times like this.
“......Meno...... sor, po......!”
Frondier spoke, and a magic circle spread.
The spear he had summoned first had used only the Weaving skill.
By his theory, that would have sufficed. He intended to combine the formula crystal and Heukcheon into that spear.
But it wasn’t working—so it was indeed a trash game.
So he would force it to work.
Menosorpo, Weaving in Empty Air
Rank — Unique
Atjie’s Spear
Originally, he would make Atjie’s Spear once by Weaving, then implement it as magic and break it, and for control create a spear existing within Menosorpo.
He imprisoned the lightning within the entirety of Heukcheon and Menosorpo’s diagrams, and grasped it in his palm.
Result.
Crackle—
After a single spark sounded, the sound ceased.
The lightning that had made such a racket fell asleep as if it had all been a lie.
“......Phew.”
Frondier looked at the black spear he held.
The spear had the same shape as Atjie’s Spear, but because of Heukcheon’s influence it was black.
It was certainly black, and yet—
──Crackle!
From time to time in the stillness, it etched a creepy lightning filament upon the ground. Even that instantaneous spark flared black.
“Not what I expected, but it’s something.”
Frondier looked at the black spear in front of him and nodded.
“The name ‘Spear of Black Lightning’ sounds good.”
His naming sense was still trash.
“I went to all this trouble—if it ends up no different than a spear imbued with lightning magic, that’d be a problem.”
Frondier scratched his head.
He’d made it, sure, but he didn’t know how useful it actually was.
“......Well, since I don’t know.”
Might as well throw it once.
Frondier absent-mindedly looked up at the sky. A weapon this terrifying—there was no way he could fire it just anywhere.
Lest he cause any collateral damage, Frondier turned his body in a direction with no relation to Atlas at all. A perfectly empty void nearby—the clear blue sky.
Frondier drew his hand holding the spear straight back. His target was the empty sky.
Vasileo saw that posture.
'......No way. Come on, no way.'
Vasileo thought,
There’s no way he’ll throw that.
He’ll just take the pose and then cancel the spell.
There was one thing Vasileo overlooked. He was in the position of earnestly begging to learn magic from Frondier, but—
Frondier doesn’t really know magic.
Whoosh!
Frondier threw the spear, and—
“Huh?”
The moment it left his hand, the spear tore upward through the sky at a speed at which Frondier’s naked eye couldn’t even perceive its outline.
How his spear differed from a “spear wreathed in lightning magic”:
His spear flew at the speed of lightning, pierced with the concept of a spear, and carried Heukcheon and burned aura.
Because it was the Spear of Black Lightning.
“......Uh, raa—......”
The instant he let go, Frondier stared blankly as the spear shot toward the sky at the speed of lightning, and then—
Crackle, kzzzt—
KWAaaaaaaang!!!
He heard the sky shatter.
