Chapter 184 - Misgivings (14)

Dozens of sharp icicles rush towards Luna. She clenched her fist, feeling dizzy.

Blue horses, water spirits, ran in front of Luna, creating a water curtain. Thanks to this, they perfectly absorbed one barrage of icicles.

But that was only once. The wind blew so sharply that I couldn't open my eyes. Luna covered her face with her arm, trying to endure, but fell backward.

When she regained her balance, the water curtain froze instantly.

I was watching this scene from the waiting tent.

How did this happen? 

Luna, who handled wind spirits, was being overwhelmed by the wind her opponent controlled. 

Is it really Fabella doing this? 

I was suspicious enough to wonder if Luna had lost control herself.

What was going on? It wasn't just the match that was strange, but the whole world.

The sky had turned black, and suddenly the whole world had become winter.

Kugugugu—

The lights from the candles and magic stone lamps in the tent simultaneously lost and regained their light repeatedly, and the tent's pillars were losing strength and tilting.

"What... is happening?"

The match wasn't important anymore. The world was in turmoil as if a cataclysm was occurring.

I left the tent and looked towards the judges' tent. There, several assistants and students were running around busily.

Sensing that the situation was going awry, I immediately ran there.

"Call the professor. Now!"

I asked the assistant in front of me.

"Why aren't you stopping the match?"

"Help us too!"

The assistant pointed to the arena barrier.

Some students were standing in front of the entrance to the arena, trying to break something invisible.

"One, two, three!"

"Harder!"

And the large bell that signals the start and end of matches was trapped inside a cubic block of ice. A student was pouring fire magic on it, but it wasn't melting easily.

The assistant shouted, "The magical artifacts are malfunctioning due to the anomaly. We can't get in there because of the barrier."

I instinctively turned my eyes to Luna beyond the barrier. She was barely managing to defend against Fabella's one-sided offensive.

Luna's spirits were busy blocking Fabella's ice. Cornered, Luna was slowly retreating.

I couldn't tell exactly what the cause or problem was, but it was clear that the match needed to be stopped. In a situation isolated by the barrier and out of control, those two were in the most danger.

I immediately moved to the waiting tent where no one was watching.

***

Wolves flew in to block the incoming icicles with their bodies, and when they tried to buy time by raising a water wall, however, it instantly froze and shattered.

Fabella's attacks came relentlessly from unpredictable directions. If it weren't for the spirits assisting her with their own judgment, she would have been bloodied if facing this alone.

A one-sided situation. She hadn't expected this much. Fabella strictly used only low-level magic, but her great strength was casting spells without any particular preparation. The casting speed and completeness of the magic were flawless.

It was like a high-level magician toying with an apprentice using only low-level magic.

Luna's spirits were strangely intimidated for unknown reasons. Because of this, they couldn't easily approach Fabella.

Once again, a sharp wind struck Luna, and she fell backward while retreating.

Soon after, the moisture on the ground rapidly froze, following under Luna's feet like a lit fuse.

This froze Luna's hands and feet without giving her a chance to resist, restraining her.

The wolf spirits crushed the ice with their teeth, but it froze again in its broken state.

"...!"

Icicles were floating in all directions, aiming at Luna.

Luna looked towards where Fabella was. And their eyes met again.

Distracted by the battle, she hadn't noticed, but Fabella's eyes were now wet with tears.

And Luna sensed that some inexplicable story was intertwined with this match.

At that moment, a professor's booming shout rang out from one end of the arena, "Stop!"

But Fabella didn't seem to want to end it yet. She stretched her arm out into the air.

Then she clenched her fist and pulled her arm sharply towards her body. Of the dozens of icicles surrounding Luna, just one rushed quickly towards her.

As the icicle was about to graze Luna, someone flew in and protected her by embracing her with their whole body.

Seeing this, Fabella screamed, "No!!"

Though it was a critical situation, the man's chest touching her forehead was strangely comforting. Hot liquid dripped onto Luna's nape.

The faint herbal scent from that body was unmistakably Damian's.

Damian released Luna's face, which he had been tightly embracing. He sighed in relief as he checked Luna's condition.

Luna covered her mouth with both hands when she saw Damian's side.

"...!"

An icicle had pierced his side, and his clothes were stained with blood.

And Fabella, who was far away, shouted, "D-Damian!"

Seeing his side, Fabella lost her reason and immediately rushed over.

Damian was only checking Luna's condition, regardless of who was calling. He joked, not even thinking about his own situation.

"...Why didn't you wave the white flag I gave you?"

"That's not important right now...!"

Damian, realizing there were many eyes watching, said, "No. You shouldn't act like you know me right now."

Just as Fabella was about to get close to Damian, the match evaluation committee members and a Magic Department professor intervened and held her back.

"He's my junior. Please let me see him! Please!"

The professor firmly cut off her request, "The match is over. Take her away."

Then they quickly surrounded Fabella like guards protecting a princess and dragged her out of the arena.

Soon after, Eternia's healers rushed in to check on Damian and Luna.

At some point, the snowstorm had subsided, and a ray of sunlight came down through the dark clouds.

***

The weather anomaly and several strange phenomena were concluded to have occurred due to a malfunction in the magic circle controlling the seasons beneath Eternia.

Spirits, sensitive to the natural environment and earth's mana, were greatly agitated, causing Luna to be unable to demonstrate her full abilities, while Fabella performed well by quickly utilizing the changed climate.

I... lying on a hospital bed after receiving treatment, couldn't move for a while due to feelings of embarrassment.

Despite the fierce battle, Luna only had minor bruises and no major injuries.

It was bewildering to end up bedridden with serious injuries that had nothing to do with the actual match. Strictly speaking, this wound was unnecessary.

The last icicle flying towards Luna... at first, I thought it was thrown with the intent to directly harm her, but now it was concluded that its trajectory wasn't meant to directly pierce Luna.

In fact, I realized this too at the moment I rushed to block it with my body, so I had no objection.

That icicle was meant to graze Luna's body. If I hadn't thrown myself in, it would have ended without incident.

Questions remained about why the bell was frozen, why the normally functioning seasonal magic malfunctioned at that timing, and exactly what the icicle was aiming for.

During this time, Art Cluc seniors Haley and Zenia visited the infirmary again.

Department Head Haley grinned, looking at me lying down.

"The first-year is quite something, huh?"

Zenia came to my side and bluntly poked the area where the icicle had pierced with her finger, saying,

"So the first-year was interested in that Luna girl. Right? Right?"

"...Pardon?"

"You snuck out wondering how to score points, and then threw your body in. You succeeded properly after showing such a cool side, right? Huh? Throwing away the seniors who cheered hard for you, feels good?"

"That... I jumped in because the assistant told me to help."

Haley asked, "But how did you get through the barrier? It seems you were faster than even the professor."

...Simple, I tore through the barrier with my magic sword.

"There was a mouse-hole-sized gap in the barrier, so I squeezed my body through."

"You made a good call. These days, the first-year’s popularity is getting better by the day, it's a bit troublesome. Your classmates keep asking us about you."

"...I got unnecessarily injured, why would my popularity improve?"

"Well, you threw your body to protect a girl, wouldn't that make you popular?"

Haley took out a cookie box from her pocket and placed it at my bedside.

"Here, I'll give you this since you're hurt. Oh, I almost forgot. Fabella said she wants to apologize and meet separately later, what do you think?"

I shook my head.

"It was my carelessness, so there's no need for her to apologize."

"Alright, I'll tell her that."