I’m sorry for the two people fighting hard, but I have my own circumstances.
While others are actively running the game, how sorrowful is a student who can’t run properly because their shoes have come off?
That’s me without a ball.
Irene is having a blast, tossing around an ice ball imbued with various spells, but the safety of Dark Mana requires the existence of a medium.
‘To shove this much, it needs to be something as sturdy as a dodgeball.’
The problem is that the three balls I threw earlier are all trapped in an infinite acceleration repeat zone that’s been severed from space!
To get the ball out, I’d have to twist the path vertically beyond the severed space.
“Just a second, I’ll borrow this!”
That was the reason I snatched the dodgeball from Northern Grand Duchess Irene, who was diligently fighting the White Knight Roe.
“Ah!”
Oh no, it’d be bad if I made a sound.
In the blink of an eye, I threw a ball that was thickly filled with coldness into the infinite repeat zone.
Once reinforced with Dark Mana, it became a ball harboring a tremendous amount of mana, simultaneously exuding both white and black energy.
Phew.
That should be enough.
Once I pull the ball out of the infinite acceleration repeat zone, I can instantly go from 0 balls to 4 balls.
In short, the [I’ll Give It Back] operation!
It might be a bummer to lose one, but if I give her another one while retaining the power inside, Irene would surely be delighted, right?
Yeah, if she’s having that much fun fighting with one ball, she’d be twice as happy with two.
Thinking of Irene’s joy proves I must be a good kid.
Ping!
Huh?
But shouldn’t it sound like bang when the balls collide and I pull them out vertically, not ping?
This sound… it’s definitely a mis-hit, isn’t it?
Shush-shush!
‘Uh oh!’
I forgot to calculate gravity.
I was misled into thinking the balls were subject to horizontal gravity, but the gravitational field of this entire space doesn’t move horizontally; ONLY the balls inscribed with the gravity spell do.
I totally overlooked that and assumed gravity was acting horizontally when I threw, so it’s no wonder it misfired.
On top of that, the ball I was supposed to return didn’t bounce out but rather started repeating the cycle with the three other balls, wandering through the infinite repeat zone, influenced by Dark Mana.
So, the lost ball count increased from three to four!
It’s like throwing the slipper I tossed to get the one stuck in the tree, and both of them ended up stuck!
“Oops.”
I’m sorry, Irene.
Looks like I won’t be able to return that ball!
As I turned to apologize, I saw Northern Grand Duchess Irene being escorted by healers outside my coat.
During the brief moment I snatched the ball, it seems a senior took the chance to attack and exploit Irene’s weakness.
“How cowardly! I can’t forgive you, senior. You took out Irene when she was weak!”
“…Are you even in a position to say that? You snatched the ball and then lost it!”
“Anyway, it’s your fault, senior!”
*
Is there such a ridiculous excuse?
Does this kid even understand how frustrating it is? She’s glaring at me with her fiery eyes.
Out of sheer indignation, I aimed my sword at her, and the response of the gods followed.
[Judgment of Justice]
[The three gods of the Benevolent Deity assess your demands.]
[This battle is not against a minion of evil.]
[This battle is a step toward a good future.]
[Benevolent Deity Praxis acknowledges your effort.]
[This battle is a transcendental confrontation that does not violate the principle of will.]
[Benevolent Deity Immanuel grants you strength.]
When facing Northern Grand Duchess Irene, only Benevolent Deity Immanuel contributed strength, but against Oknodie, even Benevolent Deity Praxis acknowledges Roe’s goodness.
With the support of two out of the three Benevolent Deities I serve, my strength surged.
However, Roe’s expression darkened.
“Even while handling such ominous power, you’re still not recognized as a minion of evil. How cunningly do you wield law at such a young age?”
“The cunning one is not me but the senior who eliminated Irene while she was without a ball!”
“I never thought we could have a conversation like this. What a waste of words. If the gods failed to confront your wickedness, then my light shall reveal your true self!”
Zing!
Energy concentrated, creating a sound that vibrated rapidly as Roe’s sword resonated.
As the resonance peaked, a massive slash of light flew through the air in a semicircle.
The counterattack from Oknodie wasn’t as noisy.
“Ah, a wand!”
Someone transported outside the coat, leaving behind a wand that hadn’t been packed.
Wand magic? There’s a level to looking down on people.
Unlike a staff, a wand is a supplementary tool used by inexperienced apprentice magicians or beginners struggling in real combat to quickly assemble attribute mana puzzles.
Compared to the staff they primarily use, its supplementary effects and additional benefits are minimal.
If the user wields a wand of an attribute different from their own, the effects can be worse than not using one at all.
That arrogance will lead to your downfall.
Roe thought.
This duel was over at that moment.
Oknodie’s defeat was confirmed the instant she picked up that wand.
“Ice Cutter!”
Before I could believe what came out from that tiny wand, a swift and gigantic slash of ice materialized.
Roe’s eyes widened as the slash of light and the slash of ice canceled each other out in a spectacular display of destruction.
This was a strike aided by two divine powers.
Yet, it was stopped by a mere wand.
Was it just lucky that her primary magic was the same attribute?
That’s nonsense.
Oknodie’s primary attribute is darkness.
The rumors about the Chief Scholarship Student of the Foundation, Dark Princess Oknodie, are so famous that even a second-year like me knows about them.
She must have no talent for ice…
But she did it.
It’s truly impossible without talent to exert such power.
Even if we acknowledge the power, the speed too.
If it wasn’t a spell frequently used and practiced from the beginning, it’s impossible to unleash such speed with a wand that doesn’t even belong to her.
But could that speed really be achieved solely through effort?
“What about this!”
Once might be a coincidence.
Then what if it happened three times in a row?
The thrusts continued to come without a single wasted breath or chant, seamlessly countering with “Hey! Hey!” instead of a proper incantation.
The technique demonstrated a precise reading of the output and timing of the opponent’s spell, executing counter after counter with zero waste.
It insinuated there had been attribute training beyond mere effort.
Just by looking at the tearful expression on Northern Grand Duchess Irene outside the coat, it was apparent.
That meant Oknodie possessed a level of attribute adaptation that even Northern people, who merely lived in a barren land, could not acquire just by living.
“Hmph! Now that this has happened, I’ll punish her double for Irene’s sake.”
You were the worst here, so who are you punishing?
Feeling aggravated, a chilling energy enveloped the entire coat.
The ground froze completely.
The air chilled, settling ominously.
The spooky energy gathered like a ball.
That was different.
Irene’s [Ice Flower] was a blast of concentrated energy from ice spear blades of the Ice Sphere, while this was a disaster made by compressing the breath of extreme cold and blizzards.
It was a force unfitting for any living being to handle, an element no one could comprehend.
Any human who stepped into it would be a creature wandering lost in the depths of a blizzard, unable to escape alive, daring to imitate nature itself with disaster magic.
“I won’t back down. Come at me whenever you want.”
“Oh, really?”
I won’t kneel before the minion of evil.
At Oknodie’s cheerful proclamation, she conjured two more ice spheres.
“…”
For running my mouth, the White Knight Roe faced the price of facing an even tougher trial.
To him, Oknodie advanced three simultaneous [Extreme Cold Spheres], thickening the ice from the ground.
The enlightenment he had instilled in his sword to cut through Irene’s [Ice Flower] reemerged in him.
However, this time was different.
I believe I can cut it.
He had no confidence whatsoever in that.
The moment one Sphere clashed with his sword, an ominous premonition took on another form.
The sphere was cut.
But the cold wave inside it was not.
His hands froze.
Frost crept onto his skin.
A chilling gust, sharp enough that he struggled to even open his eyes, razed through him, questioning his very breath.
“Do I really have to cut two more of these?”
His will wavered before his sword did.
Unwilling to accept that fact, he stubbornly tried to layer on divine power, but the next moment, he found himself outside the coat.
“Did I just step over the line…?”
“Under the instructor’s judgment, due to grave differences in skill, it was deemed you wouldn’t even be able to salvage your corpse, leading to an emergency transport procedure.”
“So, that means disqualification…?”
The instructor nodded.
He should’ve been outraged by that, yet a sigh of relief escaped without thought.
His expression, momentarily lightened as if shedding a massive burden, suddenly sank again as he realized the truth.
‘I’ve faced a trial.’
White Knight Roe.
He understood.
The moment he faced Oknodie’s Extreme Cold Sphere, cut it, and realized he wouldn’t survive.
When he experienced the humiliation of being forcibly transported outside the coat, he faced a crisis commonly referred to in society as an “omen,” “perilous withdrawal,” or “decline in level.”
“Irene, I’ve avenged you!”
Oknodie cheerfully waved her hand at Irene outside the coat.
That girl no longer looked like a child to him.
“Oknodie.”
“What is it?”
Oknodie replied with a look of surprise, as if questioning how a loser could still speak.
Roe struggled to ask her.
“What stage was that just now? Was it really stage 4?”
Oknodie chuckled.
“That wasn’t even my original technique, you know? I just tweaked Irene’s a bit. If I had to assign a stage, um… maybe about 2.8?”
Roe realized.
That Deadcat, who faced Oknodie before him, was truly alive by the skin of his teeth.
